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The Irvine, California-based company reported net income for the first quarter of $60.5 million or $1.03 per share, compared to $18.2 million or $0.31 per share for the year-ago quarter.
During the 2009 first quarter, the company recorded a $30.8 million pre-tax special gain, including a $27.0 million milestone payment for the PMA approval specified in the LifeStent transaction.
Excluding special items, adjusted net income for the first quarter was $41.0 million or $0.70 per share, compared to $33.2 million or $0.56 per share in the prior year quarter.
On average, 18 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.69 per share for the first quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.
Gross margin for the quarter improved to 69.1% from 65.3% a year earlier, driven by a more profitable product mix and the favorable impact of foreign exchange hedge agreements, partially offset by Critical Care manufacturing variations.
The world's largest maker of heart valves said net sales for the first quarter increased 5.6% to $313.5 million from $296.8 million ion the same quarter last year. Sixteen analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $309.36 million for the first quarter.
"Our strong first quarter results were highlighted by robust heart valve sales and significant progress in bringing innovative products to clinicians and patients," said Michael Mussallem, Edwards Lifesciences' chairman and CEO. "Our earnings growth was achieved while increasing our investments in research and development by more than 20 percent in the quarter."
Heart valve therapy sales rose 16.2% to $170.4 million from $146.7 million a year ago, driven by momentum from the company's transcatheter heart valves in Europe and continued share gains in surgical heart valves.
Based on the strong start, the company now expects to achieve more than $100 million in transcatheter heart valve sales this year.
Critical Care sales for the quarter fell 2.15 to $104.5 million from $106.7 million last year. The company noted that sales of new products, particularly its FloTrac disposables, continued to grow rapidly. This new product growth was substantially offset by lower hardware sales, reflecting restrained capital spending in U.S. hospitals.
First quarter sales of cardiac surgery systems rose 5.1% to $22.5 million from $21.4 million a year ago due mainly to growth of minimally invasive surgery products.
Vascular sales for the first quarter dropped 26.8% to $16.1 million from $22.0 million in the same quarter last year, due mainly to the divestiture of the LifeStent product line.
At a time when companies are suspending their share buybacks and dividend payments to preserve cash, Edwards Lifesciences continued its share repurchase activities. The company repurchased 463,000 shares of its common stock during the first quarter for $26.8 million and ended the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $146.7 million.
Looking forward, the company expects second-quarter earnings, excluding special items, to be in the range of $0.73 and $0.77 per share. Analysts currently expect the company to earn $0.76 per share for the second quarter.
For the full year 2009, the company said it still expects underlying sales growth to be 10% to 12% and continues to project total sales at the upper end of its full year guidance of $1.24 billion to $1.30 billion.
The company raised the low end of its earnings per share guidance by $0.02 to between $2.95 and $3.03, and said it remains comfortable with its goal of increasing earnings per share by 15% to 19%.
Analysts currently expect the company to earn $2.97 per share on revenue of $1.28 billion for the full year 2009.
Edwards Lifesciences shares, which have traded in a range of $44.76 to $66.99 over the past year, closed Monday's regu7lar trading session at $57.77, up 69 cents or 1.21% and gained an additional 73 cents or 1.26% in after hours trading.
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