Image source: Abiomed.
What: Days after reporting better-than-expected financial results for its fiscal third quarter of 2016, shares in Abiomed (ABMD) tumbled 12.5% today.
So what: On Feb. 4, Abiomed management reported that sales in its fiscal third quarter grew 38% year over year to $85.8 million.
The increase was driven by a 45% lift in patient use of its Impella heart-pumping devices, which can be used for up to six hours in patients undergoing certain heart surgeries.
Abiomed's management also reported last week that its adjusted net income was $0.23 in the quarter, which was nicely higher than industry watcher's $0.15 projections.
Because the results were ahead of investors' expectations, it appears that weakness in Abiomed's shares is tied to profit-taking and de-risking amid a broader market sell-off. Since Abiomed's shares were up a whopping 137% last year, it's not a stretch to think that some investors happily rang the register.
Now what: The fiscal third-quarter performance was strong enough that management bumped up its full-year forecast for fiscal 2016.
Abiomed now expects that revenue will be roughly $326 million for the fiscal year. Previously, it was guiding for sales of between $305 million and $315 million. The forecast implies year-over-year growth of 41%, and that's nicely above prior projections for between 32% and 37% growth.
Abiomed has outpaced EPS expectations in each of the past four quarters, and as a result, investors have boosted their fiscal-year 2017 EPS estimates to $1.14 from $1.04 seven days ago. Despite the increase, Abiomed remains an expensive stock, with a forward P/E ratio of 62.2. However, given that the graying of America should lead to a larger number of heart surgeries performed in the future to drive additional revenue and profit, investors may want to consider buying shares on this drop.
