NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Bio-Rad reported after the close of the market Tuesday that its first quarter revenues increased 10 percent year over year driven by growth in both its Life Science and Clinical Diagnostics businesses.
For the three months ended March 31, Bio-Rad tallied net sales of $551.5 million compared to $500.1 million in Q1 2017, beating analysts' consensus estimate of $527.2 million. On a currency-neutral basis, Q1 sales increased 4.5 percent year over year, the company said.
Life Science sales were $197.8 million, up 13.5 percent year over year, or 9 percent on a currency-neutral basis. Life Science growth was driven by a double-digital uptick in Droplet Digital PCR sales, as well as process chromatography, and cell biology products.
Clinical Diagnostics sales grew 9 percent to $350.8 million, or more than 2 percent on a currency-neutral basis. Growth in this segment was driven by immunology, diabetes, and quality control products.
Bio-Rad's Q1 net income was $656.8 million, or $21.77 per share, compared to $12.4 million, or $.41 per share, in the year-ago period. Net income for the quarter was significantly and favorably impacted by the recognition of changes in the fair market value of equity securities of $815.9 million in the quarter related to the company's investment in Sartorius, the result of new accounting standards that became effective in 2018.
Adjusted EPS was $1.17, beating the Wall Street expectation of $1.07.
Bio-Rad's R&D spending was essentially flat at $49.4 million, while its SG&A expenses jumped 8 percent to $209.1 million from $194.4 million a year ago.
Bio-Rad finished the quarter with $407.3 million in cash and cash equivalents and $361.2 million in short-term investments.
In a conference call following the release of the company's earnings, Bio-Rad Executive Vice President and CFO Christine Tsingos said that the company is reiterating 2018 guidance of currency-neutral sales growth of 3.5 percent to 4 percent.