Shares of orthopedic device makers are up this morning after bellwether Biomet Inc. reported preliminary sales numbers indicating 3.8 percent growth for its fiscal second quarter.
NuVasive (NSDQ:NUVA), Stryker (NYSE:SYK), Wright Medical (NSDQ:WMGI) and Zimmer Holdings (NYSE:ZMH) all posted early gains today on Wall Street, as investors reacted to the better-than-expected prelims from the privately held rival.
Warsaw, Indiana-based Biomet, saying it wanted to relay the good news to its employees ahead of the holiday break, posted sales of $725.1 million for the three months ended Nov. 30, up 3.8 percent compared with the same period last year.
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“We’re pleased with our overall sales performance during our fiscal second quarter and we’re particularly happy to see acceleration in our year-over-year quarterly growth rates compared to the last couple of quarters in our major product categories, including knees and hips,” president & CEO Jeffrey Binder said in prepared remarks.
Growths rates were strong for most of Biomet’s divisions, with the exception of extremities. That division logged 14 percent growth for the quarter, compared with 16 percent for the company’s fiscal Q1.
The results “could suggest a stabilizing, possibly even improving, ortho procedure volume/price environment for other ortho companies as they gear up to report their December quarter,” Leerink Swann analyst Rick Wise wrote in a note to investors, providing “an encouraging datapoint for the ortho sector.”
Ortho investors on The Street responded, sending Biomet’s rivals’ shares up in early-morning trading. NUVA shares were up 3.1% to $11.41 as of about 10:10; Stryker gained 3.4%, rising to $47.33; WMGI added 14 cents to its $15.46 open for a 2.7% gain; and Zimmer was up 5.6 percent to $50.36.
Biomet is slated to report its final Q2 results Jan. 10 after the market’s close.