San Diego-based medical device company Volcano Corp. saw its third-quarter net income fall by more than half, to $2.6 million, and lowered the high end of its 2011 revenue estimates, citing slower sales for its intravascular ultrasound, or IVUS, product line.
Volcano’s third-quarter profit fell to $2.6 million, or 5 cents per share, from $5.6 million, or 10 cents, during the third quarter of 2010. Meanwhile, revenues rose 18 percent to $85.8 million from $72.9 million. The company said it posted a 24 percent gain in medical segment revenues but a 54 percent drop in industrial segment revenues due to reduced spending in the telecommunications sector.
In an Oct. 31 statement, Volcano President and CEO Scott Huennekens said that the company’s quarterly sales gains occurred “despite a challenging macro-economic environment that is impacting procedure activity, particularly for our IVUS business.”
Given its expectations for health care procedure activity and telecom business sales, the company narrowed the top range of its revenue guidance for 2011 from $342 million to $347 million, to $342 million to $345 million.
In the wake of Volcano’s earnings release, JMP Securities LLC downgraded the company to market perform from outperform, and other investment firms lowered their price targets on the company’s shares. Volcano, which trades as VOLC on Nasdaq, was at $23.23 midday on Nov. 1, down 7 percent from the previous day’s closing price.
In separate news, Volcano on Oct. 28 named two new high-profile board members: wireless medicine innovator Eric J. Topol, director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute and the chief academic officer of Scripps Health; and Leslie V. Norwalk, an attorney who served during the George W. Bush administration as the acting administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
“Leslie’s experience in key roles at CMS and her deep knowledge of health care policy and compliance will be invaluable to Volcano as we navigate the reimbursement landscape and drive the future growth of the company,” Volcano board member Roy T. Tanaka said in a statement.
— Kelly Quigley