Siemens Healthineers (ETR:SHL) shares ticked up today on strong second-quarter results and raised guidance for 2021.
The Erlangen, Germany-based company posted profits of $539 million (€447 million), or 50¢ per share, on sales of $4.8 billion for the three months ended March 31, 2021, for an 8% bottom-line gain on sales growth of 7.6%.
Adjusted to exclude one-time items, earnings per share were 53¢ for the company that earlier this month completed a massive $16.4 billion purchase of Varian Medical Systems.
Siemens Healthineers’ diagnostics business was a major growth driver, with sales rising 29.1% year-over-year amid high demand for the company’s rapid COVID-19 antigen tests, according to a news release.
Additionally, the company’s imaging business saw revenue growth of 7.4% in imaging and sales numbers grew 2% in advanced therapies.
“The Siemens Healthineers team has done an outstanding job during the past months. While we have further improved our operational performance and have once again made a valuable contribution to cope with this historical crisis, we have at the same time managed to successfully complete the largest transaction in our history,” Siemens Healthineers CEO Bernd Montag said in the release. “Together with Varian, we are making a leap in cancer care and a leap in our impact on global healthcare. With our even more comprehensive portfolio, we are addressing many of the most important diseases.
“Against the backdrop of continued strong business development in the second quarter and the transformative merger with Varian, we have again raised our outlook for the current fiscal year.”
Siemens Healthineers said it now expects to log adjusted EPS of between $2.29 and $2.47 (€1.90 and €2.05), compared with $1.96 to $2.19 (€1.63 to €1.82) previously, and updated its prior sales guidance for between growth between 14% and 17%, having previously projected it to range between 8% and 12%.
SHL shares were up 2% at $58.38 (€48.42) in midday trading today. MassDevice’s MedTech 100 Index — which includes stocks of the world’s largest medical device companies — was down -0.4%.