Beckman Profit Increases by 6.6% : Earnings: Results, which exceeded Wall Street expectations, included a 9% rise in sales.
FULLERTON — Beckman Instruments on Monday released second-quarter results including a 9% jump in sales and a 6.6% increase in profits from the same period a year earlier, a showing that exceeded the expectations of many Wall Street analysts.
The Fullerton-based medical technology company reported a $9.3-million profit, or 32 cents a share, for the three months ended June 30, up from $8.6 million, or 30 cents a share, a year ago. Net earnings for the first half of 1991 were $17.4 million, or 60 cents a share, an increase of 3% from a profit of $16.6 million, or 58 cents a share, posted in the first half of 1990.
Sales were $220 million for the quarter, compared to $203 million in the second quarter a year ago. For the first six months of this year, Beckman sold $416 million worth of its products, up 7% from a year ago.
“This was really one of the better second-quarter performances they’ve put on the books for quite some time, but you are not going to continue to see that kind of strong sales increase going into the second half of the year,†said Kenneth Kulju, a health-care analyst with the New York-based banking concern of Rothschild Inc.
Stock market traders appeared to agree, with Beckman up just 13 cents to close at $19.
The company attributed its second-quarter performance to an increase in shipments of the CX7 clinical chemistry system--costing more than $100,000 each--that analyzes blood and urine specimens.
Financial analysts were encouraged by the increase in CX7 sales, largely because the machine requires a steady supply of Beckman’s chemical products, so-called reagents.
“The reagent sales should kick in in 1992, which is a higher margin business for them,†said Douglas M. Lane, an investment analyst with Provident National Bank in Philadelphia.
On the downside, Beckman said it is still dealing with a decrease in demand for its research instruments because of funding cutbacks at pharmaceutical firms.
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