NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Thermo Fisher Scientific today reported a 22 percent increase in fourth quarter revenues, driven by growth across its businesses.
"We delivered an outstanding year," said Marc Casper, the company's president and CEO, during a conference call today to discuss the firm's earnings. "The excellent progress we made in 2017 has significantly strengthened our leadership position and sets us up very well for the year ahead."
For the three months ended Dec. 31, revenues totaled $6.05 billion, up 22 percent from $4.95 billion in the year-ago quarter and beating the consensus Wall Street estimate of $5.7 billion. Organic revenue grew 8 percent, while acquisitions enhanced revenue by 11 percent and currency effects increased revenue by 3 percent.
Life sciences solutions revenues grew 11 percent to $1.58 billion from $1.42 billion during the year-ago quarter. Organic revenues grew 8 percent, and there was strong growth from the bioproduction and biosciences businesses.
Casper said that next-generation sequencing, which is part of the life sciences solutions segment, represents just under 2 percent of the company's total revenues and is a business "that's growing reasonably well."
Commenting on Thermo Fisher's recent agreement with Illumina, allowing Illumina to sell Thermo's AmpliSeq technology for its sequencing platforms, Casper said that "we felt that's a good growth opportunity, and given the fact that we continue to launch new products, we were comfortable with that combination of moves."
Analytical instruments revenues increased 16 percent to $1.41 billion from $1.22 billion during the fourth quarter of 2016. Organic revenues grew 11 percent, driven by strong growth across all businesses within the segment.
Specialty diagnostics revenues increased 10 percent to $910 million from $830 million in the fourth quarter of 2016. Organic revenues grew 7 percent, driven by strong growth in seasonal products and good performance in the clinical and transplant diagnostics businesses.
Laboratory products and services revenues, which include Patheon, acquired in August 2017, grew 43 percent to $2.4 billion from $1.68 billion a year ago. Organic revenues grew 9 percent, driven by the company's channel business. All businesses in the segment grew well, including the clinical trials business.
Thermo Fisher posted a profit of $528 million, or $1.30 per share, for the quarter, down 16 percent from a profit of $630 million, or $1.59 per share, for the year-ago quarter, which the firm attributed to a one-time tax provision of $204 million associated with the recent tax reform legislation in the US. Adjusted EPS was $2.79, versus $2.41 in Q4 of 2016, beating the consensus Wall Street estimate of $2.66.
R&D spending in the fourth quarter rose 9 percent to $233 million from $213 million in Q4 of 2016, and SG&A expenses increased 14 percent to $1.16 billion from $1.02 billion.
For full-year 2017, Thermo Fisher had $20.92 billion in revenues, up 14 percent from 18.27 billion in 2016 and beating the consensus analyst estimate of $20.59 billion. Organic revenue grew 5 percent, acquisitions increased revenue by 9 percent, and currency effects slightly bolstered revenues.
Life sciences solutions revenues grew 8 percent in 2017, to $5.73 billion, from $5.32 billion in 2016, and organic revenues grew 6 percent.
Analytical instruments revenues increased 31 percent to $4.82 billion for the year, from $3.67 billion during 2016, and organic revenues grew 9 percent.
Specialty diagnostics revenues increased 4 percent to $3.49 billion in 2017, from $3.34 billion in 2016, and organic revenues grew 4 percent.
Laboratory products and services revenues grew 16 percent to $7.83 billion last year, from $6.72 billion in 2016, and organic revenues grew 5 percent.
R&D expenses grew 18 percent to $888 million from $755 million for the year, and SG&A costs climbed 9 percent to $4.41 billion from $4.04 billion.
The company's net profit for 2017 was $2.23 billion, or $5.59 per share, up 10 percent from $2.02 billion, or $5.09 per share, in 2016. Adjusted EPS was $9.49, up 15 percent over the previous year's $8.27 and beating analysts' estimates of $9.36.
Thermo Fisher finished 2017 with $1.34 billion in cash and cash equivalents.
For 2018, the company expects revenues between $22.42 billion and $22.72 billion, a 12 to 13 percent growth over 2017. For adjusted EPS, it expects $10.68 to $10.88, a 13 to 15 percent growth over adjusted EPS in 2017.
In morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange, Thermo Fisher Scientific's shares were up nearly 7 percent, at $221.