What happened

After the company reported strong second-quarter results, shares of NuVasive (NUVA), a medical device company focused on minimally invasive spine surgery, jumped as much as 10% in early-morning trading on Wednesday. Shares were up about 9% as of 12:47 p.m. EDT.

So what

Here are the key takeaways from the second quarter:

  • Revenue jumped 3.7% to $292.1 million. That matched the consensus estimate on Wall Street.
  • Gross margin expanded 60 basis points to 73.4%.
  • GAAP net income was $15.0 million, or $0.29.
  • Non-GAAP, or adjusted, net income was $32.8 million, or $0.63 per share. That figure was up about 9% when compared to the year-ago period and was ahead of the $0.56 that market-watchers were expecting.
Doctors performing surgery

Image source: Getty Images.

The upbeat quarterly results allowed management to favorably tweak its full-year guidance:

Metric Previous Guidance Range Updated Guidance Range
Revenue $1.14 billion to $1.16 billion Unchanged
Non-GAAP operating margin 15% to 15.5% 15.3% to 15.7%
Non-GAAP EPS $2.20 to $2.30 $2.25 to $2.35

DATA SOURCE: NUVASIVE. EPS = earnings per share.

For context, Wall Street is currently projecting $1.15 billion in full-year revenue and $2.29 in non-GAAP earnings per share (EPS).

Traders cheered the upbeat quarterly results and guidance boost.

Now what

NuVasive isn't the fastest-growing medical device company out there, but its quarterly results show that it is having success with steadily growing its top line and controlling costs, both of which are contributing to decent growth on the bottom line. With management calling for more "Steady Eddie" growth from here, investors have every reason to remain bullish on this dependable business.