Align Technology (Nasdaq:ALGN) this week announced fourth-quarter results that beat the overall consensus on Wall Street.
The Tempe, Arizona-based dental aligner maker reported profits of $41.8 million, or 54¢ per share, on sales of $901.5 million for the three months ended December 31, 2022, for a bottom-line loss of 78.1% on sales loss of 12.6% compared with Q4 2021.
Adjusted to exclude one-time items, earnings per share were $1.73, 20¢ ahead of The Street, where analysts were looking for sales of $881.9 million.
“Overall, I’m pleased to report fourth-quarter results that reflect a more stable environment for doctors and their patients than recent quarters, especially in the Americas and EMEA regions, as well as most APAC markets outside of China. Throughout Q4, trends in consumer interest for orthodontic treatment, patient traffic in doctor’s practices, and iTero scanner demos continued to improve. However, the unfavorable effect of foreign exchange on our fourth quarter and full year 2022 results was unprecedented and reduced our revenues and margins significantly,” CEO Joe Hogan said in a news release.
Full-year results and looking ahead
For fiscal 2022, Align Technology reported net revenues of $3.7 billion and diluted EPS of $7.76. Also in 2022, the company repurchased $475 million of common stock and plans to repurchase $250 million more starting in Q1 2023. It expects to entirely complete its 2021 $1 billion stock repurchase program in Q2 2023.
“We remain focused on expanding our technology and industry leadership, while making disciplined investments in our strategic growth drivers. We exited fiscal year 2022 with a strong balance sheet, including $1 billion in cash and investments, a healthy cash flow position and no long-term debt,” CFO and EVP of Global Finance John Morici said. “We are pleased to announce that our board of directors has authorized a new $1 billion stock repurchase program to succeed the current $1 billion program. This new $1 billion program reflects the strength of our balance sheet and cash flow generation, as well as management’s and our Board’s continued confidence in our ability to capitalize on large market opportunities in our target markets and trajectory for growth while concurrently returning capital to our stockholders.”
In fiscal 2023, the company anticipates no additional material disruptions or circumstances beyond its control. Align Technology expects the 2023 GAAP operating margin to be slightly above 16% and the 2023 non-GAAP operating margin to be slightly above 20%.
Shares in ALGN were up 22% in mid-morning trading to $345.30 apiece. MassDevice’s MedTech 100 Index — which includes stocks of the world’s largest medical device companies — finished the day up more than 14%.