Wright Medical Upbeat On Preliminary Q4 & 2017 Sales Results

Wright Medical Group N.V. (NASDAQ:WMGI) has recently announced better-than-expected preliminary net sales results for fourth-quarter fiscal 2017. The company is likely to report full financial results on Feb 27, 2018, after the market closes.

The company expects net sales for fourth-quarter 2017 to be approximately $217.6 million, up 12.7% on a reported basis and 11.2% on a constant-currency basis, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $216.94 million by a close margin.

For full-year 2017, Wright Medical’s preliminary net sales figure of $745 million lags the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $753.39 million. However, the 8% growth expectation (both reported and constant-currency basis) over the year-ago reported sales number is encouraging for investors.

Wright Medical Group N.V. Price and Consensus

Wright Medical Group N.V. Price and Consensus | Wright Medical Group N.V. Quote

Notably, the preliminary figures have been reported considering the benefit of the extra four business selling days in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017.

Per management, the U.S. upper extremities business of the company delivered outstanding performance. This was mainly driven by the company’s launch of PERFORM Reversed glenoid in Apr, 2017 and contribution from the SIMPLICITI shoulder system.

The company has strong expectations from the integration of PERFORM Reversed launch and the recently acquired BLUEPRINT, projected to deliver strong shoulder sales growth in fiscal 2018. Since its inception in the first half of fiscal 2017, BLUEPRINT led to a sharp increase in the number of surgeons using the software to plan cases and the total number of cases planned.

However, the company did not benefit from the lower extremities business in the fourth quarter. Further, they had supply constraints related to a third-party coating vendor.

Despite a drag in the sales of the core U.S. lower extremities segment, the company is optimistic about restoring growth in 2018 on the back of improvement in execution and building their physician relationships.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Wright Medical carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

A few better-ranked stocks in the broader medical space are, Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:BIO) , Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) and ABIOMED Inc. (NASDAQ:ABMD) . While Bio-Rad and Centene sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), ABIOMED carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank Stocks Here.

Bio-Rad’s long-term growth rate is 25%. The stock has rallied 11.3%, as against the industry’s gain of 7% over the last six months.

Centene’s long-term growth rate is 14%. The stock has rallied 29.3% compared with the industry’s gain of 18.9%, over the last six months.

ABIOMED’s long-term growth rate is an impressive 31.5%. The stock has gained 47.2%, much above the industry’s rally of 7.8%, over the last six months.

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