NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Bruker reported after the close of the market Thursday that its first quarter revenues rose 7 percent year over year.
For the three months ended March 31, the firm said total revenues rose to $461.4 million from $431.7 million in the first quarter of 2018, beating analysts' consensus estimate of $450.1 million.
Bruker's organic revenue was up 6 percent year over year, while growth from acquisitions was 6 percent, and the negative effect from changes in foreign currency rates was 5 percent.
On a conference call following release of its financial results, Bruker President and CEO Frank Laukien noted that the company's CALID group, which houses its mass spectrometry business, "reported strong performance" in the quarter, with revenues of $148.2 million, up 13 percent from $131.3 million the year before.
The group's growth was driven by "strong organic growth in our mass spectrometry and microbiology businesses," he said, adding that the company had seen its timsTOF Pro mass spec instrument receive significant attention at the recent US Human Proteome Organization's annual meeting and the annual meeting of the European Proteomics Organization.
Laukien added that while it is still early in the system's life cycle, Bruker anticipates that its ability to analyze samples with high sensitivity and throughput could help continue proteomics push into the clinical space as well as enable emerging applications like single-cell proteomics.
"We think that it will eventually expand the category… growing the proteomics market beyond the research proteomics market we have today," he said
The company's BioSpin division posted revenue of $127.8 million, down 3 percent from $131.8 million in Q1 2018. Bruker Nano revenues were up 14 percent to $140.8 million from $123.9 in the year-ago period. BEST revenues were up 5 percent to $47.8 million from $45.6 million in Q1 2018.
Bruker CFO Gerald Herman said the company saw mid-single-digit growth in the academic and government markets for its scientific instruments business. It also saw strong instrument growth in the biopharma space "with the highlight being our mass spec biopharma solutions portfolio," he said.
The company's microbiology business was up double-digits, with growth driven both by sales of consumables and new assays to existing customers as well as the placement of new MALDI Biotyper units, Laukien said.
From a geographic perspective, European organic revenue was down year over year, North American organic revenue was up high single digits, and Asia-Pacific organic revenue was up double-digits with "strong double-digit growth in China and Japan," Herman said.
Bruker's Q1 net income rose to $30.7 million, or $.20 per share, from $27.4 million, or $.17 per share, in Q1 of 2018. On an adjusted basis, its EPS was $.28, up from $.24, beating the average Wall Street estimate of $.24.
The firm's Q1 R&D spending rose 7 percent to $46.4 million from $43.2 million, while its SG&A expenses rose 9 percent to $120.1 million from $110.3 million.
Bruker finished the quarter with $302.6 million in cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash.
The company raised its full-year 2019 guidance, calling for revenue growth of 7 percent to 8 percent, including organic revenue growth of approximately 3 percent, and adjusted EPS of $1.57 to $1.61 for the year, up from its previous guidance of $1.54 to $1.58. Analysts are expecting EPS of $1.57 for the year.
In early morning trading on Nasdaq, Bruker shares were up 10 percent to $45.52.