What happened
Consumer-oriented healthcare company Perrigo (PRGO 1.27%) had a good day on the stock exchange Tuesday. That morning, the Ireland-headquartered company published its final quarterly results of 2021, which pleased investors enough to push its share price nearly 4% higher.
So what
For the quarter, Perrigo collected $1.1 billion in net sales, which was nearly 5% higher than in the same period a year ago. On the bottom line, the company's non-GAAP (adjusted) profit was $82 million, or $0.60 per share, well up from the $64 million of Q4 2020.
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On average, analysts following Perrigo stock were expecting the achieved $1.1 billion on the top line, but had only been modeling $0.56 per share in adjusted net profit.
While the company was affected early last year by the coronavirus pandemic, "sales growth improved sequentially each quarter during 2021 as consumer demand rebounded strongly as the year progressed behind a normalized level of cough, cold and flu illnesses," the healthcare company quoted CEO Murray Kessler as saying.
Perrigo's revenue growth was spearheaded by its sales in the Americas region, by far its most important market. Within that area, upper respiratory medications were particularly successful, notching a 26% increase in net sales. Nutrition products and vitamins, minerals, and supplements also did well, notching respective gains of 12% and 44%.
Now what
Perrigo also proffered guidance for the entirety of 2022. The company believes it will achieve net sales growth of 3.5% to 4.5% over the 2021 figure, and adjusted per-share net income of $2.10 to $2.30. While even the upper end of the latter range doesn't meet the average $2.67 analyst estimate, if achieved it would represent an improvement over full-year 2021's $2.06.
