Wright Medical (NSDQ:WMGI) posted better-than-expected earnings yesterday for the 1st quarter, prompting investors to send its share price up more than 9% today.
The Memphis-based medical device company reported losses of -$30.4 million, or -63¢ per share, on sales of $71.1 million for the 3 months ended March 31, marking a swing to red ink despite sales growth of 26.2% compared with Q1 2013.
Adjusted to exclude 1-time items, losses were -$16.6 million, or 34¢ per share, 8¢ ahead of expectations on Wall Street. The news sent WMGI shares up 9.2% to $29.86 apiece as of about 2:30 p.m. today.
"We delivered a strong start to 2014 with excellent execution on the MicroPort, Solana Surgical and OrthoPro transactions. As anticipated, we did experience some minor, short-term dis-synergies in the U.S. due to these transactions. Our international business grew 63% and continues to make good progress in our key markets. The foot and ankle business had strong constant currency growth of 31% globally and total ankle replacement sales grew 38%, extending our leadership position in this market," president & CEO Robert Palmisano said in prepared remarks.
Palmisano said Wright submitted April 29 an amended pre-market approval application for its Augment bone graft to the FDA. In March the watchdog agency agreed to let Wright submit additional data for the PMA for Augment, which the company bought along with BioMimetic Therapeutics in 2012.
"Although it took us a few weeks longer to file the amendment than we originally anticipated, we believe the extra time allowed us to work collaboratively with the FDA to gain a more precise understanding of their expectations for the content of the amendment. As previously communicated, we expect the Office of Device Evaluation to issue a determination on whether the PMA is approvable no later than 180 days after this submission date," Palmisano said.
The company expects to launch its new Infinity total ankle system during the 2nd quarter, he added, ahead of schedule.
Wright raised the low end of its sales outlook from, saying it now expects sales of between $308 million and $312 million, compared with prior guidance of between $305 million and $312 million. The new guidance would translate to sales growth of 27% to 29%, the company said. Adjusted losses per share are slated to be between -$1.28 and -$1.38, according to a press release.
