Merit Medical (NSDQ:MMSI) shares ticked up today on first-quarter results that beat the consensus forecast.
The South Jordan, Utah-based company posted profits of $11 million, or 19¢ per share, on sales of $248.9 million for the three months ended March 31, 2021, pulling its bottom-line from out of the red year-over-year on sales growth of 2.2%.
Adjusted to exclude one-time items, earnings per share were 52¢, 15¢ ahead of Wall Street, while the company’s revenues topped analysts’ estimates by 7.7%.
“Despite a slow start to fiscal year 2021 as a result of continued challenges in the operating environment due to COVID-19, we saw measured improvements as we moved through the first quarter, and we delivered better-than-expected revenue results due in large part to a record month of March,” Merit chairman & CEO Fred P. Lampropoulos said in a news release. “We are also proud of the strong financial results we delivered in the first quarter. … Importantly, we continue to make progress towards our goal of enhancing Merit’s long-term growth and profitability profile, as evidenced by the $29 million of free cash flow we generated in the first quarter. We are pleased with the solid start to the year and remain cautiously optimistic in our outlook for measured improvement in the operating environment as we move through the remainder of 2021.”
Merit said it still expects to log adjusted EPS of between $1.84 and $1.98 in fiscal 2021, while its sales guidance is set for between $994 million and $1.014 billion.
MMSI shares were up 2.6% at $64.96 per share in early-morning trading today.