NEW YORK – Bruker reported on Thursday morning that its revenues in the third quarter rose 16 percent year over year.
For the three months ended Sept. 30, revenues were $742.8 million, up from $638.9 million in Q3 2022 and beating the consensus Wall Street estimate of $714.4 million.
The company saw a 3 percent positive effect on revenues from currency translation and a 2 percent positive effect from acquisitions.
The company's CALID group, which houses its life sciences and mass spectrometry business, posted 15 percent growth in the quarter with revenues of $239.3 million compared to $207.5 million the year before.
During a conference call following the release of the financial results, President and CEO Frank Laukien noted continued strong demand for the company's timsTOF mass spec platform as a key growth driver within CALID.
Revenues for Bruker BioSpin rose 13 percent to $198.3 million from $175.7 million a year ago, Bruker Nano revenues spiked 20 percent to $238.7 million from $199.1 million, and Bruker Energy & Supercon Technologies (BEST) revenues rose 19 percent to $70.6 million from $59.3 million.
Laukien also highlighted Bruker's recent acquisition of single-cell proteomics firm PhenomeX, which the company is folding into its Nano group, calling it its Cellular Analysis business.
Mark Munch, president of the Nano group and corporate executive VP at Bruker, said the acquisition would expand the company's footprint "in translational research, clinical research, and biopharma" while also being complementary to its cellular analysis tools including its Canopy CellScape spatial proteomics system.
Munch said Bruker acquired PhenomeX for $122 million, roughly twice the firm's annual revenue, calling this an attractive valuation. Bruker expects the new business to initially generate more than $60 million in revenue per year, he said, and anticipates it to be accretive to earnings by 2026.
Munch said Bruker has begun "right-sizing the business and optimizing cost structures," with much of that work to take place in Q4 2023.
Laukien also addressed Bruker's business in China, which recently has been an area of concern for many life science vendors. The company saw a slowdown in the Chinese market in Q3, he said, but because of "very strong Q1 bookings" in the country, Chinese order growth for the first nine months of 2023 is up substantially year over year with a "significantly elevated backlog."
The Billerica, Massachusetts-based company reported a profit of $88.1 million, or $.60 per share, in Q3, very similar to its profit of $88.1 million, or $.59 per share, a year ago. On a non-GAAP basis, Bruker had EPS of $.74, above the consensus Wall Street estimate of $.63.
Bruker's R&D costs were $71.3 million for the quarter, up 27 percent from $56.2 million in Q3 2022. Its SG&A spending was $177.6 million, up 23 percent from $144.8 million in the year-ago quarter.
Bruker ended the quarter with $366.9 million in cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash.
The company raised its full-year 2023 revenue guidance to a range of $2.88 billion to $2.91 billion from its previous guidance of $2.85 billion to $2.90 billion. This implies 14 percent to 15 percent revenue growth year over year, up from a projection of 12.5 percent to 14.5 percent. The firm projects full-year 2023 non-GAAP EPS of between $2.48 and $2.53, down $.07 from its previous guidance due to an anticipated $.12 negative impact from its new Cellular Analysis business.
In Thursday morning trading on the Nasdaq, Bruker shares were up 2 percent to $58.20.