Merit Medical (NSDQ:MMSI) yesterday posted fourth-quarter and full-year sales and earnings that beat the consensus forecast on Wall Street.
The South Jordan, Utah-based medical device company reported profits of $9.2 million, or 16¢ per share, on sales of $233.2 million for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2018, representing bottom-line growth of 35.0% on sales growth of 22.2% compared with Q4 2017.
Adjusted to exclude one-time items, earnings per share were 48¢, three pennies ahead of The Street, where analysts were looking for sales of $230.4 million.
Full-year profits grew 52.7% to $42.0 million, or 78¢ per share, on sales growth of 21.3% to $882.8 million compared with the prior year. Adjusted EPS came in at $1.69, again 3¢ ahead of the consensus, which called for sales of $879.7 million.
“2018 was an important and very positive year for the company and included the closing of the Becton Dickinson deal, the acquisitions of Cianna Medical and Vascular Insights, and the execution of our global growth and profitability plan,” founder, chairman & CEO Fred Lampropoulos said in prepared remarks. “As we look forward, we are also comfortable adding a forecast for 2020, which we currently believe will be in the range of 8% to 10% core revenue growth, an addition of 100 to 150 basis points to gross margin and net income improvement of approximately 14% to 19%.”
Merit said it expects to post EPS of $1.97 to $2.08 this year on sales of $1.01 billion to $1.03 billion.
MMSI shares closed down -3.2% at $57.48 apiece yesterday.
