ResMed Tops Expectations but Falls Anyway
Medical-device maker ResMed (NYSE: RMD) reported its fiscal fourth-quarter results after the market closed on Tuesday, Aug. 1. The continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) pioneer reported modest top-line growth when compared with last quarter, but margin improvements help drive better-than-expected results on the bottom line.
Let's take a closer look at the company's results to get a better sense of how it fared during the period.
ResMed fiscal year 2017 Q4: The raw numbers
| Metric |
Q4 2017 |
Q3 2016 |
Year-Over-Year Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sales |
$556.7 million |
$518.6 million |
7% |
| Non-GAAP net income |
$109.6 million |
$104.4 million |
5% |
| Non-GAAP EPS |
$0.77 |
$0.74 |
4% |
What happened with ResMed this quarter?
- Revenue of $556 million was pretty much exactly what Wall Street had expected.
- Revenue from Brightree, the company's recently acquired software solution, grew in the low double digits to $36.2 million.
- Excluding acquisitions, Resmed posted organic revenue growth of 6% for the period.
- Gross margin improved by 100 basis points to 58.2%.
- Spending on selling, general, and administrative costs rose 10% year over year.
- Non-GAAP EPS of $0.77 was three cents higher than what market watchers had predicted.
- The dividend payment was raised by 6%. The new quarterly payout is $0.35 per share.
- Resmed made two small tuck-in acquisitions during the quarter to support its rollout of Brightree.
On the product front, Resmed launched a new full-face mask called the AirTouch UltraSoft during the quarter. The mask features a memory-foam cushion and is designed to addresses the primary reason patients stop using a CPAP machine: discomfort.
Management also noted that it is seeing "excellent initial demand" for its new AirMini pump, which is the smallest CPAP solution on the market.
What management had to say
Commenting on the quarter, ResMed's CEO Mick Farrell stated:
He also stated that the announced dividend increase reflects the board's confidence in the company's ability to meet its long-term business objectives.
Looking forward
Despite posting better-than-expected results, ResMed's shares fell by more than 6% on the trading day following the earnings release. While the source of the decline isn't entirely clear, it is possible that investors were spooked by ResMed's spending plans in the upcoming fiscal year. On the plus side, management stated that it expects spending growth on selling, general, and administrative expenses to moderate over the course of the year. The figure currently stands at 27% of revenue and is expected to drop to 26% by the end of the fiscal year. However, those gains might not trickle down to the bottom line, because the company plans on ramping up research-and-development spending, from 6.6% of revenue today to 7% to 8% for fiscal 2018.
Regardless of the short-term hit to the share price, Farrell let investors know that the company remains squarely focused on delivering for all its stakeholders over the short and long term:
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Brian Feroldi has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends ResMed. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.