What: After reporting top and bottom line results that failed to "wow" investors, shares in Abiomed (ABMD) cratered by 29% earlier today.
So what: Although investors abandoned their Abiomed positions, it's hard not to like the company's fiscal second quarter results or its full year fiscal guidance.
In fiscal Q2, Abiomed, which makes devices used in cardiac procedures, saw its revenue jump by 47% to $76 million. A lot of the spike in sales came from increasing adoption of Abiomed's Impella line-up of heart pumps, including the Impella 2.5, which won FDA approval for use in certain high-risk heart procedures earlier this year. That led to U.S. sales increasing 59% to $66.7 million in the quarter from a year ago due to a 48% increase in patient use.
Importantly, a greater proportion of sales coming from newer products helped the company deliver gross margin of 84.1% compared to 81.5% a year ago, which contributed to operating income growing to 16.8% of sales from 8% last year. In the quarter, GAAP net income totaled $7.7 million, or $0.17 per share, which was up from $3.8 million, or $0.09, in fiscal Q2 last year.
Abiomed's management also bumped up their full year revenue outlook to between $305 million and $315 million, an increase that comes after the company already upped its outlook last quarter to between $300 million and $310 million from its prior outlook for sales of between $285 million and $295 million. Management also believes that margins will improve to at least 15%, up from at least 14%, this fiscal year and that suggests that earnings should come in ahead of internal projections too.
Now what: Despite delivering strong sales and earnings growth, investors appear more than willing to book profit following a dramatic run-up in Abiomed's share price this year.
Perhaps, investor profit-taking was sparked by the fact that Impella year-over-year sales growth, while strong at 53%, was down slightly from fiscal Q1, during which Impella sales grew 60%.Or maybe, investors were hoping for better revenue guidance that reflects a higher overall yearly increase. At the low point of their current guidance, Abiomed projects sales will be up 32% this year versus last year, which would seem to suggest a deceleration in year-over-year growth in the coming two quarters.
Nevertheless, the drop-off in Abiomed's shares may be presenting healthcare investors with a unique opportunity to think long-term and pick-up a fast-growing medical device company on sale. Although no one knows when the selling will stop, Abiomed's fast-growth and future products could mean that top and bottom line sales continue to climb faster than the market.
