Abiomed (ABMD), a medical device company focused on cardiovascular disease, reported its fiscal fourth-quarter and full-year earnings results on May 3. The Impella heart-pump maker reported sales growth of 40%, which marks its second consecutive quarter of accelerating top-line growth. When combined with margin improvements, earnings per share jumped by an impressive 142%. 

Abiomed's fiscal fourth quarter: The raw numbers

Metric

Q4 2018

Q4 2017

Year-Over-Year Change

Revenue

$174.4 million

$124.7 million

40%

GAAP net income

$36.8 million

$14.9 million

147%

Earnings per share

$0.80

$0.33

142%

Data source: Abiomed. 

Close up picture of surgeon wearing glasses

Image source: Getty Images.

What happened with Abiomed this quarter?

  • Sales of the company's family of Impella heart pumps grew 42% on a worldwide basis to $168.3 million. The strong top-line growth was driven by 35% sales growth in the U.S. and 107% growth in international markets. 
  • Operating margin jumped by 400 basis points year over year to 27.3%.
  • Management credited the triple-digit earnings growth to higher revenue, favorable operating leverage, and a lower tax rate.

Zooming out to the full year, here's how Abiomed performed in fiscal 2018:

  • Revenue jumped 33% to $594 million.
  • Gross margin declined slightly to 83.4%.
  • Operating margin increased by 630 basis points to 26.5%.
  • Net income more than doubled to $112 million, or $2.45 per share.

What management had to say

CEO Michael Minogue was quite pleased that his company was able to cap off fiscal 2018 on such a high note:

Abiomed delivered another record quarter and fiscal year. I am proud of our Patients First execution and operational discipline from research to manufacturing to customer support. We earned multiple global regulatory approvals in the U.S., Germany, and Japan on new products, new indications and reimbursement.

Looking forward

Abiomed's management team expects that the good times will continue into fiscal 2019. Specifically, here's the guidance being shared with investors:

  • Revenue is expected to land between $740 million and $770 million, which represents growth of 25% to 30%.
  • Operating margin is expected to come in between 28% to 30%, which represents a continued expansion from the 26.5% margin that was reported in fiscal 2018.

In summary, Abiomed capped off fiscal 2018 with record results and is poised to continue posting meaningful growth from here.

Minogue ended his prepared remarks on the call with investors by summarizing the state of the business today:

In closing, we enter fiscal 2019 with purpose and confidence in our mission to recover hearts and save lives. We finished the year achieving records on nearly every clinical and business metric, and fortified our leadership position with expanded distribution, training facilities, manufacturing capacity, 317 patents, 311 patents pending, and $400 million in cash. Fiscal 2019 is positioned to be another outstanding year, and we appreciate the investment from our shareholders.