Another Boost for Immucor

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Since trading for pennies a share in 2001, shares of Immucor (Nasdaq: BLUD) have been on a blistering pace. After the release of the company's Q3 earnings Wednesday, there's no apparent letup in sight, either. Immucor, which makes devices used in blood transfusions, reported record revenue, and its shares were trading up 9.7% Thursday afternoon.

There were no apparent soft spots in the quarterly earnings release. On a per-share basis, Immucor's earnings increased by 24% over the year-ago quarter, and revenue for the quarter reached $57.1 million for an increase of 21%. Other positive takeaways were that sales of traditional reagent products increased 22% over the prior-year quarter and Immucor's instrument sales increased by 22%.

One thing that never hurts is when you're able to name your own price. And maybe the most notable revelation from management is about the pricing power the company now has. About 82% of the company's revenue increase from the year-ago quarter can be attributed to price increases in the U.S. This pushed the company's gross margin to 70.7%, up from 68.2% in the year-ago quarter.

Two other companies also enjoying the success in the medical diagnostic industry over the past 52 weeks are Dade Behring Holdings (Nasdaq: DADE) and Beckman Coulter (NYSE: BEC). Dade reached a new 52-week high Thursday and is up 30.7% from a year ago. Beckman is still trading near the 52-week high that it reached in February and is up 17.9% over the past year.

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Fool contributor Billy Fisher does not own shares of any of the companies mentioned.