What happened
Shares of Vocera Communications (VCRA) have skyrocketed today, up by 35% as of noon EDT, after the company reported second-quarter earnings. The results crushed Wall Street's expectations.
So what
Vocera, which provides communications tools and services to the healthcare industry, reported revenue of $47.3 million in the second quarter, ahead of the $40 million in sales that analysts were modeling for. That translated into adjusted earnings of $0.10 per share, much better than the adjusted net loss per share of $0.06 that the market was expecting.
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"We fought through rapidly changing market dynamics and enhanced our market relevance," CEO Brent Lang said in a statement. "Our employees were inspired by our mission to improve the lives of patients and caregivers." The chief executive added that communications technology is increasingly being viewed as a critical part of personal protective equipment (PPE) for front-line workers.
Now what
Vocera is seeing strong demand for its offerings, such as its Smartbadge device that provides hands-free communications, as healthcare workers combat the coronavirus. "We won several very large strategic deals, and we saw continued strength in urgent COVID-related orders as hospitals worked quickly to try to prepare for and respond to this crisis," Lang said on the conference call with analysts.
The company did not provide specific guidance due to ongoing market uncertainty, but CFO Justin Spencer did note that Vocera is entering the second half of 2020 with "a record software backlog" and a "relatively full slate of deployments" scheduled. Deferred revenue and backlog combined were $127.5 million at the end of the second quarter.
