Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE: EW) posted first-quarter results today that beat the consensus forecast on Wall Street and reaffirmed its outlook for the rest of the year, with CEO Michael Mussallem saying “we are hopeful the worst of the pandemic is behind us.”
That may have sounded too much like a jinx for superstitious stocktraders as COVID-19 cases in the U.S. are climbing once again after a brutal winter. Investors reacted to the financial results by sending EW shares down more than 5% to $110.00 in after-hours trading.
Before Edwards released its results, the stock dropped about 3% on the day, compared to a 2.5% decline in MassDevice and MDO‘s MedTech 100 Index, which includes stocks of the world’s largest medical device companies.
The Irvine, California–based cardio device company reported profits of $373.6 million, or $0.59 per diluted share, on sales of $1.34 billion for the three months ended March 31, 2022. That was a 10% increase in both the bottom line and sales compared with Q1 2021.
Adjusted to exclude one-time items, earnings per share were $0.60, $0.03 over Wall Street analysts’ expectations of $0.57 on sales of $1.31 billion.
“We were pleased with our first-quarter results despite the pronounced impact that omicron had on hospital capacity, resources, and procedure volumes in January. Our supply chain team delivered, and our field employees continued to support the skilled clinicians and patients who count on Edwards,” Mussallem said in a news release. “… We continue to believe that 2022 will be an important year for Edwards, as we expect low double-digit sales growth and meaningful progress on our pursuit of significant opportunities to improve patient care.”
Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) sales grew 11% to $881 million, while surgical structural heart sales ticked up 4% to $221 million.
Edwards reaffirmed its 2022 profit and revenue guidance at $2.50 to $2.65 in adjusted EPS on sales of $5.5 billion to $6 billion.
The company said it expects adjusted EPS of $0.61 to $0.69 for the second quarter on revenue between $1.36 billion and $1.44 billion.