MELVILLE (dpa-AFX) - Healthcare products supplier Henry Schein, Inc. (HSIC) on Tuesday reported a more than 5 percent increase in profit for the first quarter on higher revenues at all four of its segments. Both revenues as well as adjusted earnings beat analysts' estimates. Buoyed by the results, the company raised its earnings outlook for fiscal 2012.
Global Dental sales for the latest quarter grew 6 percent to $1.2 billion, reflecting stable or improved patient traffic to dental offices in the major markets served by the company. Global Animal Health sales rose 15 percent to $525.6 million, as the business continued to make gains in market share.
Global Medical sales rose 4 percent to $354.8 million, reflecting growth in North America and in international markets. Global Technology and Value-Added Services sales increased 13 percent to $62.9 million.
Stanley Bergman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Henry Schein said, 'This is the first quarter we are reporting net sales results for our global customer-centric business units, and we are pleased with growth in local currencies of mid-single-digits or better for each unit. Early in 2012 we implemented and largely completed a restructuring with the goal of optimizing our cost structure and improving profitability.'
Melville, New York-based Henry Schein's net income for the first quarter rose to $80.75 million or $0.89 per share from $76.50 million or $0.82 per share in the year-ago period.
Excluding restructuring costs of $11.8 million pre-tax or $0.09 per share, net income increased to $89.05 million or $0.98 per share from $76.50 million or $0.82 per share in the prior-year quarter.
On average, fourteen analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.91 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.
Net sales for the quarter grew 7.8 percent to $2.10 billion from $1.95 billion in the same period last year and beat analysts' consensus estimate of $2.03 billion.
For fiscal 2012, Henry Schein now expects earnings in a range of $4.30 to $4.40 per share, up from the prior range of $$4.25 to $4.34 per share. The revised outlook represents growth of 8 percent to 11 percent compared with 2011 results. Analysts expect the company to earn $4.31 per share for the year.
In Tuesday's regular session, HSIC is trading at $76.56, up $1.83 or 2.45 percent on a volume of 693,418 shares.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
