Recently, Meridian Bioscience Inc. (VIVO) reported results for the first quarter of fiscal 2010. The company earned 22 cents per share in the quarter which fell short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate by a penny. Meridian Bioscience earned 20 cents per share in the year-ago quarter.
Net sales for the quarter came in at $42.45 million as opposed to $34.29 million in the prior-year quarter, up 24%. Segment-wise, sales from its U.S. Diagnostics unit came in at $30.70 million as opposed to $23.48 million in the year-ago quarter, up 30.8%. The European Diagnostics division registered sales of $6.29 million in the quarter compared to $5.67 million in the year-ago quarter, up 10.9%. The Life Science unit came up with quarterly sales of $5.46 million as against $5.14 million in the year-ago quarter, up 6.2%.
Management attributed the rise in net sales in the quarter to high organic growth, increased demand for foodborne and upper respiratory tests in addition to the positive currency effects at Meridian Bioscience Europe.
Cost of goods sold in the quarter increased 55.1% to $16.97 million from $10.94 million in the prior-year quarter. Total operating expenses for the quarter came in at $11.72 million which reflected a 4.9% increase over the year-ago quarter. Research and development spending recorded a slight increase of $0.01 million from $2.06 million recorded in the year-ago period. While, sales and marketing expenses declined to $4.88 million from $4.96 million, general and administrative expenses climbed 14.7% to $4.76 million from $4.15 million in the prior-year quarter.
Meridian exited the quarter with cash and short-term investments of $66.7 million with no bank-debt obligations outstanding. Furthermore the company had 100% borrowing capacity under its $30,000,000 commercial bank credit facility.
The company announced a quarterly dividend of 19 cents per share payable Feb 11 to shareholders of record as of Feb 1. This indicates an annual rate of 76 cents per share, as against 68 cents in fiscal 2009, up 12%.
Guidance for 2010
Backed Meridian Bioscience reaffirmed the guidance provided by it for fiscal 2010 (ending Sep 30, 2010). The company expects to earn between 90 cents and 95 cents per share for the year. Furthermore, it forecasted net sales for fiscal 2010 to lie between $160 million and $165 million. The forecast excludes the impact of any acquisition that Meridian might complete during fiscal 2010. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal 2010 is 93 cents.
Read the full analyst report on “VIVO”
Zacks Investment Research
