Adam Elsesser
Analyst · JPMorgan. Your line is open
Thank you, Dan. I would like to welcome you to Penumbra's Third Quarter 2017 Conference Call. I'm joined today by members of our senior management team. I will begin today's call with a few business updates from the third quarter. Our total revenues for the third quarter of 2017 were $83.9 million compared to $67.2 million for the third quarter of 2016, an increase of 24.9% as reported, and 24.1% in constant currency. We had an operating profit in the quarter of $683,000 compared to an operating loss of $1.4 million for the same period last year. After my comments, Sri will provide further context on the drivers behind our results and a few items that serve to benefit our revenue and operating performance in the quarter. As we have typically done, we will call out details that will help give you a more accurate perspective for our results. Sri will also discuss our updated revenue guidance. We continue to see strong momentum in our overall business. We remain encouraged about our long-term prospects and our strategic positioning within both of our major markets, neuro and peripheral vascular. Starting with our neuro franchise, as we have discussed in the past, we continue to believe that the most important long-term effort in the United States is to make sure patients get to a hospital to be treated. The Get Ahead of Stroke campaign, which is being led by the Society of NeuroInterventional Surgery, is the cornerstone of this effort by targeting state legislatures to require patient triaging for stroke. We are pleased to see greater recognition of this effort. Just recently the National Stroke Association honored Get Ahead of Stroke for being the most impactful campaign of the year. In the third quarter, we saw continued strength in neuro driven by ischemic stroke procedural volumes. We believe the current procedural volumes are being helped primarily by local efforts and we are not yet seeing significant benefits from the early state legislative efforts. We have been continually impressed with the incredible energy and commitment that so many people throughout the country and the world have dedicated to ensuring that stroke patients are taken to the appropriate hospital. We are seeing local efforts taking many shapes. Organized outreach with the local EMS providers, shared cooperation between hospitals, investment and growth of new centers from larger hospital systems, and dozens of other similar local initiatives. While we certainly expect these efforts to continue, we reiterate our views that this growth will inherently be uneven. During my visits with customers and hospitals over the past few months, while we sense progress, we have equally heard a number of stories about organizations and individuals that are resisting the efforts to get appropriate patients to the right hospital. While we've known about such efforts to block progress, it will require further resolve to work through these obstacles. It is ultimately unimaginable that this resistance will succeed in blocking the hard work that is being done to make sure patients get to the right hospitals to be treated. I raised this issue to provide further insight into the complexity and the work ahead and to provide further context into our view of the pace of growth over the next few years. Turning now to our products within ischemic stroke. We feel very well positioned with Penumbra's complete stroke portfolio led by our flagship aspiration device, ACE68. As the stroke market grows, it may be helpful to remind everyone of what we have said before. That this market has always been defined by and succeeded because of its competitive environment. Penumbra has competed in this market for almost a decade, and we greatly respect our competitors. Their efforts have always pushed us to a higher level of innovation and ingenuity. We have always anticipated that as the stroke market grows, we will see competitive products come to market. For the past two years, we have been preparing for competitive on-label aspiration catheters and aspiration pumps. It is very important to note that we take this work very seriously. Our strategy and the intensity of our execution have been driven by the competitive landscape. Turning to our peripheral vascular franchise. We are making strong inroads, both in our embolization and thrombectomy businesses. Within peripheral thrombectomy, we continue on our mission to change the treatment paradigm for blood clots in the body. As we have continued to understand the field, we see the work ahead of us to be broken into three distinct conditions, each with separate challenges. These three areas are arterial, DVT and PE. We are focusing our development, clinical ,and sales and marketing strategies on each of these areas as a separate and distinct opportunity to more deeply impact these patients. Finally, in addition to the work that we have discussed in our major markets, we continue to work on additional innovation in areas where we can hopefully add significant benefit. In deciding where we focus our efforts, we follow the three fundamental principles that have always guided us at Penumbra. First, will the idea or product positively impact a great number of people. Second, can we at Penumbra have a real chance at success in developing the product. And third, are the commercial opportunities for that product viable. Within this framework, we are very excited to be exploring several new ideas. As I end my remarks for this quarter, I would like to share a story that motivated me and the entire Penumbra team. Several weeks ago, I had the honor of speaking to [Kevin Cecil] [ph], a 36 year old project manager for a construction company in Kentucky. Mr. [Cecil] had suffered from blood clot problems for many years and had a DVT in his right leg when he was 19 years old. He was treated 17 years ago with then standard treatment. He told me that his right leg was never the same and has always bothered him. Unfortunately, Mr. Cecil developed an iliofemoral DVT in his left leg recently. His sister works as the lab manager and technician at a hospital in Kentucky and encouraged him to undergo treatment with our Indigo System. He was hesitant because of his prior experience, but reluctantly agreed. The treatment was successful and after three to four weeks of regaining mobility, Mr. [Cecil] told me his leg feels back to normal and much better than the leg that was treated so many years ago. He acknowledged that given his job, he would have been in a very difficult spot had he not been able to regain mobility and he expressed his gratitude for his physician, [Dr. Deviti] [ph] and the entire staff of the hospital. He also wanted to make sure other patients are aware of this treatment, so that they can have the same chance at success. Mr. Cecil's story is very inspiring to me and the whole team as we continue our efforts to offer better technology in treating this devastating condition. I will now turn the call over Sri to cover the financials.