“It is noteworthy that, of the patients who have responded to Epidiolex, a high proportion show a reduction in seizure frequency of greater than 50% and a portion of these patients were reported to be seizure-free at the end of 12 weeks of treatment,” stated CEO Justin Gover. “We believe that these signals of efficacy,…
Express Scripts Claims Shortfall Prompts Slight Miss in First Quarter and Guidance Reduction
Express Scripts reported underwhelming first-quarter results on Thursday evening. While the company continues to do an enviable job at driving improved profitability per claim, overall claims volume was light and management expects that pattern to persist for the full year, prompting a $0.06 per share EPS guidance reduction. Claims volume has been the company’s weakness…
Fiserv Reports Solid First-Quarter Results
Fiserv reported first quarter 2014 results, which we characterize as modestly better than expectations. Adjusted internal revenue grew 5.6% year-over-year, compared with our estimate of 3.8% growth. The payments segment grew 8.5%, while the financial segment grew 2.7%, with both coming in above estimates. The adjusted operating margin was 29.6%, an improvement of 120 basis…
ZELTIQ Aesthetics First-Quarter Results: Strong Improvement
Friday afternoon, April 29, Zeltiq reported first-quarter revenues of $30.9 million (up 55%), $2.4 million above the Street’s estimate of $27.9 million. While both system and consumable sales were higher than our estimates, consumable sales drove the lion’s share of the beat. This is an encouraging signal—and one investors have been anxiously awaiting—as management’s investments…
U.S. Silica Holdings Crushes on Volume and Revenue
The company narrowed its 2014 guidance for adjusted EBITDA of $180 million to $200 million to the high end of the range, versus our previous adjusted estimate of $199 million. The company guided capex of $75 million to $85 million last quarter. The company announced it will be bringing its new Utica, Illinois mine online…
Healthcare Services Group Quarterly Results Exactly In Line With Expectations
On Tuesday after the markets closed, Healthcare Services Group (HCSG) reported in-line first-quarter 2014 results. More specific, the company reported total sales of $312.2 million, up 14.0% year-over-year and exactly in line with the consensus forecast; earnings per share were $0.21, also spot on the Street target. Top-line growth of 14.0% represented a solid acceleration…
ABIOMED, Inc. Sees European Approval of RP as Another Positive Development
Tuesday morning Abiomed announced that its Impella RP device, which provides temporary support for patients with right ventricular failure, received CE mark approval in Europe. This is a positive development for the company, and while we do not expect an immediate bump in sales. The Impella RP is similar to Abiomed’s flagship left-side Impella device…
HealthStream ICD-10 Delay Should Be a Modest Positive
Last week, legislation delayed the transition to the ICD-10 coding system for one year, to October 1, 2015. HealthStream has captured meaningful market share for ICD-10 training, and revenue from ICD-10 content was 13% of sales in fourth quarter 2013, leaving some investors concerned that it is a temporary driver that has been inflating revenue…
LKQ Corporation First-Quarter Preview
LKQ is expected to release first-quarter results on Tuesday, April 29, before the markets open and will host a conference call at 9:00 a.m. CDT. Analysts estimate total revenue will increase 34%, to $1,599 million, including roughly $165 million from the recent acquisition of Keystone Automotive Operations and about $100 million from Sator Beheer, which closed…
Eagle Pharmaceuticals’ Ryanodex Receives Patent for Treatment of Exertional Heat Stroke
Eagle Pharmaceuticals announced today that its dantrolene sodium injectable suspension (brand name Ryanodex) has received a patent for the treatment of exertional heat stroke, which will provide coverage through 2023. Patent ‘460 brings the company’s IP surrounding Ryanodex to four issued patents. As the patent coverage surrounding the company’s best-in-class formulation solidifies, Eagle will initiate…