NEW YORK – PerkinElmer said after the close of the market on Tuesday that its fourth quarter revenues grew 68 percent year over year.
For the three months ended Jan. 3, the Waltham, Massachusetts-based company recorded $1.35 billion in total revenues and beat the consensus Wall Street estimate of $1.22 billion. The results were slightly better than what PerkinElmer said it expected earlier this month.Â
The Discovery and Analytical Solutions segment posted $502.8 million in revenues, up 1 percent year over year from $496.5 million in Q4 2019. The Diagnostics segment had $851.8 million in revenues, up 176 percent from $309.0 million a year ago, the company said.
On a conference call to discuss the financial results, PerkinElmer CFO Jamey Mock said that COVID-10-related products and services contributed $549 million in revenues in Q4, led by the firm's PCR-based tests and RNA extraction products, which together brought in more than $300 million in revenues.
Further within Diagnostics, the applied genomics business grew more than 420 percent year over year with particular strength in nucleic acid extraction, liquid handling, and sample preparation product lines.
The immunodiagnostics business was up more than 250 percent, Mock said, adding the Euroimmun subsidiary grew more than 20 percent year over year.
"Demand for our portfolio of RT-PCR assays remained particularly strong across the globe and serology [testing] demand was consistent on a sequential basis," Mock said.
Reproductive health revenues were down in the low single-digits, he said.
In Discovery and Analytical Solutions, the life sciences end market was up in the mid-single digits organically, pharma/biotech grew in the mid-single digits also, academia/government was up in the double digits, while applied markets declined about 10 percent.
PerkinElmer had a profit of $380.4 million, or $3.38 per share, for the recently completed quarter compared to a profit of $64.5 million, or $.58 per share, a year ago. Adjusted EPS for Q4 2020 was $3.96 and beat analysts' average estimate of $3.00.
Its R&D costs were up 19 percent year over year to $56.8 million from $47.6 million, and its SG&A costs grew 25 percent to $263.1 million from $210.7 million.
For full-year 2020, PerkinElmer's total revenues rose 31 percent year over year to $3.78 billion from $2.88 billion in 2019. It beat the consensus Wall Street estimate of $3.65 billion.
On the conference call, PerkinElmer President and CEO Prahlad Singh noted that the firm took in more than $1 billion in COVID-19-related testing revenues during 2020, and it shipped more than 25 million PCR-based COVID-19 tests.
The company had a profit of $727.9 million, or $6.49 per share, in 2020 compared to a profit of $227.6 billion, or $2.04 per share, a year ago. Adjusted EPS of $8.30 beat the consensus Wall Street estimate of $7.34.
Its R&D spending grew 8 percent year over year to $205.4 million from $189.3 million, while its SG&A spending was up 13 percent to $917.9 million from $815.3 million.
The firm ended 2020 with $402 million in cash and cash equivalents.
For the first quarter of 2021, PerkinElmer is guiding to revenues of approximately $1.19 billion. EPS from continuing operations is estimated to be at least $2.52, while adjusted EPS is expected to be at least $3.00. COVID-19-related revenues are expected to about $500 million, Mock said, while non-COVID products are estimated to grow between 1 and 3 percent organically year over year.
Last month, PerkinElmer announced it plans to buy Oxford Immunotec for $591 million. Q1 2021 guidance does not include potential revenues from that acquisition.
Full-year 2021 revenues are anticipated to be at least $4.08 billion and EPS from continuing operations is estimated to be at least $6.73. Adjusted EPS is expected to be at least $8.50. COVID-19-related revenues are expected to be at least flat year over year, Mock said, while non-COVID revenues are expected to grow 5 to 7 percent organically.
Lastly, Singh said that PerkinElmer may have news about a COVID-19 rapid antigen test in a few weeks.
"At this point we feel pretty comfortable that we have something that we might come out with, which is probably at, if not best, in standards, in terms of what's out there," he said.
In Wednesday morning trading on the Nasdaq, PerkinElmer shares were down about 4 percent to $144.75.