
ResMed (NYSE:RMD) shares fell nearly 7% this morning after the medical device company posted record sales and profits for its fiscal 2nd quarter, but missed Wall Street’s earnings expectations.
The San Diego-based medical device company posted profits of $77.9 million, or 53¢ per share, on sales of $376.5 million for the 3 months ended Dec. 31, 2012.
That amounts to a bottom-line gain of 24.0% and top-line growth of 13.2%, compared with the same period in 2011. But analysts on The Street were looking for EPS of 57¢, prompting investors to send RMD shares down 6.6% to $43.73 as of about 11:30 a.m. today.
"We had a solid quarter across the board,"chairman & CEO Peter Farrell said in prepared remarks. "And we believe we are in the early stages of an exciting market dynamic for sleep-disordered breathing (SDB), which we have been pioneering for many years, by offering full solutions to therapy providers and critical information for the reimbursement community. In short, we don’t just provide high-quality flow generators and a highly regarded range of comfortable, effective and preferred masks and accessories, we offer robust data solutions that drive compliance and adherence. This combination is a significant value proposition for home medical equipment providers, because these solutions drive efficiencies and create additional business opportunities. And by providing valuable clinical and economic data to payors, we strive to help them more fully appreciate SDB therapy’s positive effect on health and cost benefit outcomes. We believe that our continuing advocacy for screening, diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring patient adherence to SDB therapy presents a significant opportunity to improve health and quality of life, contain healthcare costs, and curtail the development of multiple co-morbidities, many of which are far more devastating and costly than SDB."