Zimmer Holdings (NYSE:ZMH) shares are down this morning in early trading after the orthopedics giant lowered its sales and earnings guidance for 2011 – despite beating analysts’ expectations with its third-quarter earnings.
Warsaw, Ind.-based Zimmer said third-quarter profits were $192 million, or $1.01 per share, on sales of $1.03 billion for the three months ended Sept. 30, up 5.2 percent and 6.9 percent, respectively, compared with the same period last year.
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Adjusted for one-time expenses, earnings were $1.04 per share, a penny above $1.04 adjusted EPS Wall Street analysts were looking for.
“Zimmer delivered against our financial commitments in the third quarter with consistent results in both revenues and earnings,” president & CEO David Dvorak said in prepared remarks. “Progress in the commercialization of new products supported a strong performance in many international markets. Through this progress and ongoing financial discipline, we continue to deliver value to stockholders.”
Although Zimmer lowered its sales guidance for the rest of the year, it raised the top end of its EPS forecast.
The company said it now expects to post diluted EPS of $4.40 to $4.45, up from an earlier prediction of $4.25 to $4.35. Full-year sale growth is expected to be 2.3 percent to 2.7 percent, down from a prior prediction of 2.5 percent to 3.5 percent.
But ZMH shares still fell this morning, down 3.7 percent to $52.05 as of about 11:20.
