Henry Schein (NSDQ:HSIC) shares dipped today despite fourth-quarter results that topped the consensus forecast.
The Melville, N.Y.-based company posted profits of $142.6 million, or 99¢ per share, on sales of $3.2 billion for the three months ended Dec. 26, 2020, for a -56.8% bottom-line slide on sales growth of 18.6%.
Adjusted to exclude one-time items, earnings per share were $1, 1¢ ahead of Wall Street, where analysts were looking for sales of $2.9 billion.
Henry Schein reported a 7.2% increase in sales up to $1.8 billion for its dental segment, while medical sales received a massive 48.5% boost to $1.2 billion, with demand for personal protective equipment (PPE) and COVID-19-related products, including tests, being the driving force behind that growth.
“Our Medical business experienced strong year-over-year sales growth in the fourth quarter driven by continued demand for PPE and COVID-19 related products, most specifically for COVID-19 test sales,” Henry Schein chairman & CEO Stanley Bergman said in a news release. “For the second quarter in a row, our global Medical business has achieved over $1 billion in quarterly sales. Excluding sales of PPE and COVID-19 related products, sales increased by approximately 3.6%.
“We believe solid COVID-19 test sales growth is likely to continue while COVID-19 cases remain at relatively high levels.”
Henry Schein said it now expects to log adjusted EPS at or above the 2019 tally of $3.51 per share, citing similarities between the financial impact of COVID-19 on 2020 and what’s expected for 2021.
HSIC shares were down -5.4% at $66.74 per share in mid-morning trading today. MassDevice’s MedTech 100 Index — which includes stocks of the world’s largest medical device companies — was down -0.6%.