NxStage Medical (NSDQ:NXTM) today met the consensus forecast for its 1st-quarter earnings and topped the revenue expectation on Wall Street.
The dialysis device maker narrowed its losses by -6.8% to -$1.2 million, or -2¢ per share, on sales of $96.8 million for the 3 months ended March 31, for top-line growth of 8.5% compared with Q1 2016.
Analysts on The Street were looking for losses of -2¢ on sales of $95.3 million. NXTM shares slipped -3.7% to $26 even this morning ahead of the market’s open.
“We believe we are well positioned with tremendous growth opportunities. We continue to execute at a high level and advance our product pipeline at an impressive pace,” founder & CEO Jeffrey Burbank said in a prepared statement. “I believe that we have 1 of the most exciting product pipelines in the industry. Our primary objective is to deliver innovative solutions that have the potential to give [end-stage renal disease] patients the ability to live longer and fuller lives while on dialysis. We don’t underestimate the hard work it will take to bring these innovations to market, but we remain confident in our capabilities. We believe our products and track record speak for themselves.”
Burbank said the company’s peritoneal dialysis system, which is designed to eliminate the need for bagged fluid, is likely to be 1st to market but not by NxStage’s target for the end of this year.
“We believe, but can’t know with certainty, that we will likely be 1st to market. It won’t be by the end of this year as we originally targeted over 18 months ago, but we’re targeting to be there before anyone else. More importantly, we’re targeting to be the best technology on the market,” he said.
NxStage said it still expects to post a profit this year on sales of $400 million to $405 million, but cut its growth estimate for its flagship home hemodialysis business to 10% to 13%, down from 15% previously, CFO Matthew Towse said in the statement. Second-quarter loss are expected to be -$1 million to -$3 million on sales of $95 million to $97 million.
“Although the year isn’t building in line with our original expectations, we continue to believe we are in a great position to drive long term growth, advance our product pipeline, and make further improvements within our key financial metrics,” Towse said.