NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Bruker reported after the close of the market Wednesday that revenues in the third quarter were $393.6 million, down less than 1 percent from $396.1 million in Q3 2015 and falling short of the consensus Wall Street estimate of $394.1 million.
Excluding a nearly 2 percent positive effect from acquisitions and, the company posted a 2 percent drop in Q3 organic growth.
The Billerica, Massachusetts-based company reported a profit of $46.5 million, or $.29 per share, compared to $11.8 million, or $.07 per share, a year ago. On a non-GAAP basis, Bruker had EPS of $.32, beating the Wall Street estimate of $.20.
The performance reflected "mixed" end market conditions, as weakness persisted in European academic and global industrial markets, President and CEO Frank Laukien said on a conference call following the earnings release.
Geographically, European revenue was down in the high teens in the quarter, while North American revenues were up in the high single-digits, Japanese revenues rose in the low-single digits, and Chinese revenues were up in the low teens.
Bruker saw strength in its NMR business, Laukien said, citing a favorable product mix and better pricing for these instruments. It also saw a partial recovery in MALDI Biotyper sales, which had slumped in the first half of the year. In China, the company resolved certain distribution issues that had dampened Biotyper sales, Laukien said, though he noted that he did not expect growth to resume its previous trajectory until 2017. US Biotyper sales were up compared to the first half of 2016, "but we're also not quite where we want to be yet," he said.
Laukien highlighted Bruker's acquisition, announced this week, of a PCR assay development team and a portfolio of multiplex real-time PCR assays that it will use to develop PCR-based syndromic panels to add to its MALDI Biotyper clinical microbiology offerings.
"We see significant advantages to combining multiplex PCR assays with a readout on our MALDI BioTyper platform," he said.
Laukien also noted a number of steps the company is taking to reduce expenses, including factory consolidations in its Daltonics division, which houses its life sciences mass spec business, and in its CALID and NANO groups.
Bruker's R&D costs were $37.9 million for the quarter, up 3 percent from $34.3 million in Q3 2015. Its SG&A spending was $96.8 million, up less than 1 percent from $96.1 million in the year-ago third quarter.
Bruker ended the quarter with $278.7 million in cash and cash equivalents, and $162.8 million in short-term investments.
The company adjusted its full-year 2016 guidance, predicting non-GAAP EPS in the range of $1.07 to $1.11, up from its previous guidance of between $.97 and $1.02. It lowered its 2016 revenue guidance from a previous guidance of flat revenues to a decline of one percent. The guidance of flat revenues was, itself, a revision from an initial guidance of 3 percent growth.
Bruker shares were up nearly 11 percent at $22.61 in trading Thursday morning on the Nasdaq.