Haemonetics easily beat quarterly forecasts Wednesday and raised its outlook for the year, pushing HAE stock to briefly break out.
The Boston-based company provides tools for blood and plasma collection, surgical suites and hospital transfusions. In its fiscal first quarter, Haemonetics' best growth came from its biggest division, plasma. Organically, sales in the division surged nearly 44%.
"Robust growth in plasma is evidence of improving momentum in plasma collections and hospital is an increasingly powerful driver of growth, with vascular closure exceeding our expectations," Chief Executive Chris Simon said in a written statement.
Haemonetics shares jumped 8.9% to 73.60 on the stock market today. HAE stock briefly broke out of a 40-week consolidation period at a buy point at 75.44, according to IBD MarketSmith charts. Shares have climbed roughly 39% this year.
HAE Stock: Plasma, Hospital Lead Quarter
Overall, Haemonetics' revenue increased 14% to $261.5 million and easily topped expectations for $249 million, according to FactSet. Organically, sales jumped nearly 17%. Haemonetics also earned 58 cents per share, excluding some items. Earnings grew 16% year over year and beat views by 7 cents.
In addition to strong plasma sales, Haemonetics said sales from its hospital division grew close to 15% organically. But blood center sales tumbled more than 7%.
Those trends are expected to persist this year. Across the board, Haemonetics raised its organic sales growth outlook to 10%-14%. The company expects plasma sales to increase 15%-20% and hospital sales to surge 19%-22%. Blood center sales are expected to dip 2%-5%, but that's less of a decrease than the company expected three months ago.
Haemonetics also guided to adjusted earnings of $2.50 to $2.90 a share. HAE stock analysts called for $2.74 a share.
Haemonetics shares have high ratings, according to IBD Digital. They have a Composite Rating of 95, which puts HAE stock in the top 5% of all stocks in terms of fundamental and technical measures. A Relative Strength Rating of 94 puts Haemonetics stock in the leading 6% of all stocks for its 12-month performance.
Follow Allison Gatlin on Twitter @IBD_AGatlin.
