Mark de Raad
Analyst · Matthew Dodds with Citi
Thank you, Joe, and good afternoon, everybody. First quarter 2011 total revenue rose 14% to $113 million versus $98.8 million in the year-ago period. Growth was driven by an 18% rise in product revenue to $101.6 million, due primarily to higher sales of sensors and other consumables. Product revenue growth was partially offset by an 11% decline in royalty revenue to $11.5 million, resulting primarily from the change in the Covidien royalty rate effective March 15, 2011. As you know, we announced earlier this year that we had amended our agreement with Covidien, which was set to expire on March 14. Under the new agreement, we will continue to receive royalty payments equal to 7.75% of Covidien's U.S. pulse oximetry sales through at least March 15, 2014. Our first quarter SET revenue grew 17% to $94.1 million, demonstrating our strength in both U.S. and international markets and across both acute and alternative care channels. Rainbow revenue was up also nicely in the quarter, rising 39% to $7.4 million versus $5.3 million in the first quarter of 2010. We saw -- year-over-year increases in all Rainbow product categories, including licensing, consumables, boards and instruments. Importantly, we saw a strong year-over-year growth in total hemoglobin revenue, which was partially offset by ongoing headwinds in our Rad-57 sales, which continue to be impacted by the lack of state and local government funding. Our end user or direct business, which includes sales through just-in-time distributors, grew more than 25% in the first quarter to $85.3 million versus $68 million one year ago. This direct business represented 84% of product revenue versus 79% in the year-ago quarter, while OEM revenues accounted for 16% of product revenue in the quarter versus 21% in the year-ago quarter. First quarter 2011 OEM sales were down 9% to $16.3 million from $17.8 million in 2010. Importantly, although the volume of OEM board sales continues to rise over the prior year period, indicating that our technology continues to be delivered through our OEM partners, we are seeing a lower amount of sensor shipments to the OEM channel. This is due partly to the fact that fewer of our OEM partners are reselling our sensors. The good news is that, as we see lower OEM sensor sales, the same sensors are being moved to our other direct channel, as evidenced by some of the strong growth in both our U.S. and OUS regions. Despite the slightly higher ASPs that are generated on these sensors through our direct channel, the significant increase in our year-over-year total product revenue was due to significantly increased total sensor unit volumes. On a geographic basis, U.S. product revenue rose nearly 19% to $72.4 million, compared to $60.9 million in 2010's first quarter. Product revenue outside the U.S. totaled $29.2 million, up 17% compared to $24.9 million in the first quarter last year. Favorable year-over-year currency exchange rates added approximately $988,000 to first quarter international revenue totals. Note that this foreign currency exchange rate benefit was partially offset by approximately $465,000 in higher foreign currency operating expenses. Our OUS revenue was up by double-digits in all regions including Japan. Thankfully, all our Japanese employees are okay following the devastating earthquake and tsunami. Immediately following the tragedy, we donated a significant amount of technology to various rescue organizations throughout Japan. And while we did experience some impact during the initial weeks after the tragedy, our total Q1 Japanese revenue is only minimally impacted. At the same time, other international events, such as the unrest in the Middle East, did result in some delays and potential short-term losses of opportunities. Despite some of these regional pressures, our total Q1 OUS product revenue still represented approximately 29% of our total Q1 product revenues. Our first quarter gross profit margin was 64.4%, down from 66% one year ago, due primarily to the short-term impact of unfavorable manufacturing variances related to the prior quarter production activity, part substitution costs and some unique implementation costs associated with two large installations. Combined, these short-term factors accounted for an approximate 100 basis point reduction in our overall Q1 product gross margins. As expected, we are also seeing the impact of higher equipment amortization costs resulting from the very strong equipment placements that we delivered throughout 2010, and the impact of a higher level of contract renewal activity at lower renewal sensor prices. Recall that when we renew contracts, we are typically renewing at prices that were established on average 5 years ago. In addition, generally speaking, we are also seeing a more aggressive general pricing environment. As we indicated in our February call, a reduction in Q1 gross profit margins was expected, and we factored that into the guidance previously provided for gross profit margin for 2011. The total gross profit margin including royalty was 68% in the first quarter of 2011 versus 70.4% in 2010's first quarter. The decline reflects the items I just noted as well as lower year-over-year royalty revenue, following the change in the Covidien royalty rate effective March 15, 2011. Operating expenses were $51.4 million versus first quarter 2010 operating expenses of $47.8 million, excluding the $30.1 million one-time gain related to the resolution of an antitrust lawsuit against Covidien, offset by a $10.9 million in one-time marketing expenses, which included $10.3 million to establish the Masimo Foundation. Importantly, as Joe alluded, excluding the one-time items from the year-ago operating expenses, our first quarter 2011 operating expenses rose 7.5%. This significant decline in year-over-year operating expense growth is consistent with our previous comments regarding our plans to moderate the rate of operating expense growth beginning in 2011. The actual year-over-year increase was due primarily to higher SG&A staffing levels and higher travel and legal expenses. First quarter 2011 operating expenses also included $10 million in R&D spending, which was up 6% from $9.4 million in the year-ago quarter, due primarily to higher year-over-year engineering staffing levels. As I mentioned earlier, foreign currency exchange rates increased total first quarter 2011 operating expenses by approximately $465,000 compared to the first quarter of 2010. First quarter 2011 operating income was $25.4 million, up nearly 18% compared to adjusted operating income of $21.6 million, which excludes year-ago one-time items to which I just referred. Our first quarter 2011 effective tax rate was 29%, down from 35.3% in the year-ago period. This notable decline is due to the combined benefits of the R&D tax credit extension, a change in the state effective tax rate, and the impact of our growing international business. Our higher year-ago tax rate was also due to the one-time net gain from our antitrust settlement, which was all U.S.-based income. In summary, the combination of strong product revenue growth, lower royalty revenues, lower product gross profit margins, lower operating expense growth and a lower tax rate resulted in the first quarter net income of $18 million or $0.30 per diluted share, which represents a 25% increase over the adjusted earnings per share of $0.24 in the year-ago quarter. As of April 2, 2011, total cash and cash equivalents were $105.6 million, compared to $88.3 million at fiscal year-end 2010. This $17.2 million increase was due primarily to cash generated from operations. As of April 2, 2011, our DSO was 46, down from 48 on January 1, 2011. And over the same period, inventory turns rose to 3.4 from 2.8, as the majority of additional inventory we carried to support a couple of large installations has been shipped. Since this is the first quarter of the year, let me close with a quick reminder about our policy regarding annual financial guidance. As you'll recall, we provided 2011 revenue and EPS guidance in February, when we released fiscal fourth quarter and full year-end 2010 results. It is our policy not to update annual guidance unless there are material developments, which cause us to believe that either revenue or earnings per share will be materially outside the range we previously provided. Based on our Q1 results and currently available information, we are not providing any update to the annual guidance we issued in February. So with that, I'll turn the call back to Joe.