This story has been updated to include comments from the company's earnings call.
NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Bruker reported after the close of the market Wednesday that its revenues in the second quarter were up by less than one percent year over year, rising to $457.4 million, compared to $454.9 million in Q2 2013.
The results fell slightly short of the average Wall Street estimate of $457.9 million.
In a statement, Bruker President and CEO Frank Laukien said the results were in line with the company's expectations, citing difficult year-over-year comparisons.
The Billerica, Mass.-based company reported a profit of $16.4 million, or $.10 per share, compared to $22.9 million, or $.14 per share, a year ago. On a non-GAAP basis, Bruker had EPS of $.21, beating the consensus Wall Street estimate of $.19.
Laukien noted that the company last month began efforts to restructure its Chemical & Applied Markets division. This restructuring, he said, would reduce CAM's annual revenues by roughly $50 million to $70 million, but improve its annual profitability by $15 million to $20 million.
Citing this restructuring effort, along with "a lower growth outlook" in some of the company's other businesses, Laukien said Bruker was lowering its full-year 2014 guidance to revenue growth of between 1 percent and 2 percent – down from a previous guidance of 3 percent to 4 percent – and its full year non-GAAP EPS to between $.78 and $.81, compared to its previous guidance of $.85 to $.88.
The news sent Bruker's shares down around 9 percent to $20.70 in Thursday morning trade on the Nasdaq.
On a conference call following release of the earnings, Laukien gave further detail on the factors behind the lowered guidance, noting that Bruker's BEST division would generate roughly $10 million less revenue than expected in Q3 due to the fact that a customer for its Rosatom HTS research pilot would not be able to take delivery as scheduled. He added that the company's BMAT and BioSpin groups both had weaker-than-expected orders in the first half of 2014.
A relatively bright spot for Bruker was the performance of its Life Science & Clinical division, which posted low single-digit revenue growth in the quarter. Its MALDI Biotyper platform generated double-digit revenue growth in the quarter and received regulatory approval from both the Chinese FDA and the Brazilian government, Laukien said, adding that the company "saw immediate order growth towards the end of the second quarter in China."
The company's R&D costs were $44.5 million for the quarter, down 4 percent from $46.5 million in Q2 2013. Its SG&A spending was $115 million, up 7 percent from $107.1 million in the year-ago second quarter.
Bruker ended the quarter with $389.8 million in cash and cash equivalents.