Spine and dental tech company ZimVie (Nasdaq: ZIMV) reported fourth-quarter results that missed the consensus of Wall Street analysts. It also issued full-year 2023 guidance that was below consensus.
On top of the Q4 miss, the Zimmer Biomet spinoff announced that its spine business would fully exit China due to its government’s volume-based procurement decisions. ZimVie management is also evaluating its dental business’ position in China.
ZIMV shares were down more than 44%, to $5.84 apiece in morning trading today. MassDevice‘s MedTech 100 Index, which includes stocks of the world’s largest medical device companies, was down more than 1%.
Despite the disappointing earnings news, ZimVie pointed to a new partnership and global development agreement with Brainlab in the spine space as an example of how it is moving forward with a refresh of its spine portfolio.
Westminster, Colorado–based ZimVie announced yesterday evening that it lost $30.3, or $1.16 per share, off of $228.2 million in revenue for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2022. The company halved its losses from the same quarter a year ago. Sales were down 12.4%.
The company’s adjusted EPS was 16¢. The result was a nickel below the expectations of The Street, where analysts expected EPS of 21¢ off of $237 million in revenue.
“Our team has been diligently focused on accelerating independence from our prior parent, and despite a difficult macroenvironment, we launched several innovative products and drove significant operational progress in our first year as a company. We remain focused on innovating around our core platforms and driving adoption of our clinically differentiated solutions,” CEO Vafa Jamali said in a news release.
For full-year 2023, ZimVie expects full-year revenue of $825–850 million and adjusted EPS of 30–50¢. (The guidance included a 1.2% year-over-year negative impact from the China exit.) Wall Street analysts, on average, expected revenue of $913.5 million and EPS of $1.29.
ZimVie has a spine tech partnership with Brainlab
On top of the Q4 earnings announcement, ZimVie announced it is working with Brainlab to integrate its spine products with Brainlab’s spine imaging, planning, navigation, and robotic-assisted products and services. The news comes just months after ZimVie launched its Virage navigation system for instruments and screws in the spine.
“Work is already underway to integrate our minimally invasive Vital and Virage systems into Brainlab’s innovative solutions, allowing us to bring differentiated technology into the operating room to enhance workflow and accuracy while reducing interoperative X-rays and radiation exposure,” Jamali said during ZimVie’s earnings call yesterday evening.
“At the time of the spin, I announced that we would partner, rather than build, an enabling technology offering with an established leader in the space, and Brainlab fits exactly with our strategy to leverage broadly compatible solutions with an established footprint to drive greater pull-through across our spine portfolio.”
