NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – PerkinElmer reported after the close of the market on Thursday that is third quarter revenues were up 3 percent, or 10 percent on a constant-currency basis, compared to the same period a year ago.
For the three months ended Oct. 4, PerkinElmer posted Q3 revenues of $563.4 million, up from $542.0 million for Q3 a year ago and beating analysts' consensus estimate of $554.9 million. The company reported organic revenue growth of 6 percent year over year.
During a conference call following the release of the company's earnings, Andy Wilson, PerkinElmer's senior vice president and CFO, said that the company saw mid-single digit organic revenue growth in the Americas and Asia and high-single digit organic revenue growth in Europe. Third quarter revenues for the company's human health business rose about 2 percent year over year to $343.6 million, up from $336.9 million for the same quarter a year ago, while revenues for its environmental health business increased about 7 percent to $219.8 million from $205.1 million in Q3 2014. On an organic basis, human health revenues increased 7 percent and environmental health revenues increased 5 percent year over year.
The company's human health business represented about 61 percent of reported revenue for the quarter, Wilson said on the call, with diagnostics contributing 28 percent and research contributing 33 percent of segment revenue. Its environmental health business represented approximately 39 percent of reported revenues for the quarter, he said.
The company's net income for the quarter was $54.9 million, or $.48 per share, compared to net income of $42.3 million, or $.37 per share, for Q3 2014. On an adjusted basis, EPS was $.60, matching the consensus Wall Street estimate.
PerkinElmer's R&D expenses grew about 2 percent to $31.1 million from $30.4 million for the same period last year, and SG&A spending increased 3 percent to $147.7 million up from $143.0 million in the year-ago period.
The company exited the quarter with $195.1 million in cash and cash equivalents, and about $1.6 million in marketable securities and investments.
During the call, Robert Friel, PerkinElmer's chairman, president, and CEO, noted that the company's newborn screening business made "good progress" during the quarter and that the recent end of the one-child policy in China should "boost our business over the next several years."
Challenges in some market segments caused the company to lower its Q4 estimates below analysts' consensus estimate of $627.8 million in revenues. For Q4 2015, the company expects its reported revenues to be in the range of $610 million to $620 million, representing approximately 7 percent constant currency revenue growth and organic revenue growth of 3 percent to 4 percent. Adjusted earnings per share for the third quarter is expected be in the range of $0.86 to $0.89, representing 9 percent constant currency adjusted earnings growth, Wilson said.
Because of the cautious guidance, "we are lowering our 4Q revenue estimate $13mm, to the high end of guidance, and EPS by $0.01 [while] maintaining our above consensus 2016 estimates," Mizuho Securities USA analyst Eric Criscuolo said in a note. "If conditions hold we think the guidance is readily achievable." He reiterated the bank's Buy rating on PerkinElmer’s stock with a $58 price target.
For full-year 2015, PerkinElmer now forecasts adjusted EPS in the range of $2.56 to $2.59, representing 13 percent to 14 percent EPS growth on a constant-currency basis.
In Friday morning trade on the New York Stock Exchange, shares of PerkinElmer were down around 1 percent at $51.96.