NEW YORK – PerkinElmer said after the close of the market on Tuesday that its revenues for the second quarter increased a fraction of 1 percent year over year, while its Diagnostics segment slipped 2 percent.
For the three months ended April 5, the Waltham, Massachusetts-based company posted total revenues of $652.4 million compared to $648.7 million a year ago, and slightly below the consensus Wall Street estimate of $652.7 million. Organic revenues were down about 1 percent, PerkinElmer said.
By segment, Diagnostics retreated to $254.0 million from $259.9, with organic revenues down 1 percent year over year. Discovery & Analytical Solutions, meanwhile, had revenues of $398.4 million, up 2 percent from $388.8 million, with organic revenues contracting 1 percent year over year.
"The world has dramatically changed since our last earnings call," PerkinElmer President and CEO Prahlad Singh said in a statement, alluding to the coronavirus pandemic. "The team stepped up to deliver a very good quarter despite the macroeconomic uncertainty. The first quarter performance speaks to the diversity of our business both from a portfolio and geographic standpoint, and it highlights the resiliency and strength of our company."
On a conference call following the release of the financial results, PerkinElmer CFO Jamey Mock said that overall, the Diagnostics segment saw strength in applied genomics, which was more than offset by weakness in immunodiagnostics and reproductive health franchises.
While applied genomics grew more than 20 percent year over year organically, immunodiagnostics declined in the single digits. Demand in China for the immunodiagnostics portfolio was "anemic" during Q1, Mock noted, as patients deferred autoimmune, allergy, and infectious disease testing. Outside of China, though, immunodiagnostics grew well with a greater than 30 percent increase in the Americas and Europe.
Reproductive health was down in the mid-single digits organically, Mock said.
The company also discussed the effects of the pandemic on its business.
According to Mock, globally, COVID-19 resulted in a net $46 million headwind to earnings in Q1. Singh added on the call that in China, where SARS-CoV-2 was first identified, and which represented 20 percent of the company's total revenues in 2019, business was down 20 percent year over year in Q1.
Like other firms in the diagnostics and life science tools space, as the pandemic hit, PerkinElmer quickly pulled its resources to develop tests to help detect the virus and diagnose the disease. In March it received Emergency Use Authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration for an RT-PCR test. More recently, on Monday, the FDA issued an EUA for PerkinElmer business Euroimmun's serology ELISA test for SARS-CoV-2. It was the first coronavirus antibody assay whose results were independently validated by the federal government.
Singh said that as of Tuesday, the firm can manufacture and distribute more than 2 million of the RT-PCR tests per month, while Euroimmun has the capacity to manufacture more than 2.5 million ELISA test each month "and the team has further plans to scale production over the coming weeks to address growing customer demand."
Additionally, PerkinElmer teams in India and China are in the midst of developing rapid, lateral flow tests for detecting SARS-CoV-2. In India, PerkinElmer business Tulip Diagnostics has received local authorization to market an IgA/IgG/IgM antibody test for the coronavirus, using human plasma, serum, or whole blood, Singh said.
In China the firm looks to leverage the company's SuperFlex chemiluminescence platform for a point-of-care serology test, he added.
The company's R&D spending grew 2 percent to $48.9 million from $48.0 million, while its SG&A costs rose 5 percent to $208.6 million from $198.9 million.
For the recently completed quarter, PerkinElmer recorded a profit of $33.7 million, or $.30 per share, compared to a profit of $35.4 million, or $.32 per share, a year ago. Adjusted EPS for Q1 2020 was $.67 and beat the consensus Wall Street estimate of $.55.
The firm ended the quarter with $195.1 million in cash and cash equivalents.
PerkinElmer said that for the second quarter, it anticipates revenues to be between $610 million and $720 million. EPS from continuing operations is expected to be at least $.33, and non-GAAP EPS is anticipated to be at least $.65.
Because of the coronavirus pandemic and ongoing uncertainties, PerkinElmer is withdrawing its previously issued full-year 2020 guidance. In January, it had forecast revenues of $3.05 billion to $3.09 billion and EPS from continuing operations of between $2.89 to $2.99. Adjusted EPS was anticipated to be in the range of $4.50 to $4.60.