NEW YORK – Bruker reported after the close of the market Wednesday that its first quarter revenues fell 8 percent year over year.
For the three months ended March 31, the firm said total revenues fell to $424.0 million from $461.4 million in the first quarter of 2019, below analysts' consensus estimate of $444.4 million.
Bruker's organic revenue was down 8 percent year over year, with growth from acquisitions of 1 percent countering a 1 percent negative effect from changes in foreign currency rates.
On a conference call following release of the results, Bruker President, Chairman, and CEO Frank Laukien attributed the decline to the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, which he said had disrupted the company's operations as well as the operations of many of its customers.
China was particularly hard hit during the quarter, with the company seeing a roughly 30 percent decline in Q1 revenues in the country.
Asia Pacific revenues were down in the low-double digits overall, while revenues in North America and Europe were up slightly year over year, though Laukien said the company saw a weakening of the North American and European markets later in the quarter as the pandemic spread to these geographies.
Revenues for the company's CALID division, which houses its life science mass spec business, declined by low-single digits during the quarter, though Laukien noted that Bruker saw growth during the quarter in its life science mass spec business as well as in microbiology and diagnostics.
The company did not provide a Q2 or full year 2020 guidance due to uncertainty from the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, though Bruker CFO Gerald Herman said on the call that the company anticipated Q2 revenue to potentially decline by 15 percent to 25 percent.
Herman said the company has implemented cost-saving measures including cutting back hours at its European operations, temporary salary reductions, one to two week closures of selected manufacturing locations, a hiring freeze, and pausing non-strategic discretionary spending. He said Bruker expected to see cost reductions in the range of $10 million to $15 million during Q2.
Bruker's Q1 net income fell to $10.6 million, or $.07 per share, from $30.7 million, or $.20 per share, in Q1 of 2019. On an adjusted basis, its EPS was $.14, down from $.28 and below the average Wall Street estimate of $.23.
The firm's Q1 R&D spending rose 5 percent to $48.5 million from $46.4 million, while its SG&A expenses rose 1 percent to $121.2 million from $120.1 million.
Bruker finished the quarter with $798.9 million in cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash, and $56.2 million in short-term investments.
In Thursday morning trading on Nasdaq, Bruker shares were down 2 percent to $37.19.