Palo Alto, Calif.-based Varian Medical (NYSE:VAR) started its fiscal year with moderate growth and a reaffirmed outlook on 2014, but per-share earnings fall short of analysts’ projections.
The radiosurgery systems maker posted 4.9% growth in sales year-over-year and 2.8% growth in profits, according to a financial report released late last month. VAR shares have gained 1% since the start of 2014 and closed at $78.46 last night, up 0.1% on the day.
Varian reported profits of $98 million, or 91¢ per diluted share, on sales of $711.5 million during the 3 months ended December 27. That compared with profits of $95.3 million, or 86¢ per share, on sales of $678.4 million during the same period the previous year. Per-share earnings came to 91¢, about 12¢ short of analysts’ consensus estimates.
Company leadership reaffirmed the outlook for 2014, saying that it still expects to hit previously issued earnings guidance.
"The company is executing its marketing and operational strategies effectively and we believe we are on track for hitting our fiscal year 2014 growth targets," CEO Dow Wilson said in prepared remarks."For the fiscal year, we continue to believe that total company revenues could increase by about 6 to 8% over the prior fiscal year. Net earnings per diluted share for the fiscal year could be in the range of $4.22 to $4.34. We expect total company revenues for the 2nd quarter of fiscal year 2014 to be about equal to the year-ago quarter when proton revenues were high. Net earnings per diluted share for the second quarter could be in the range of $1.00 to $1.04."
