Merit Medical looks to capitalize on rival Cook recall

Merit Medical (NSDQ:MMSI) chief Fred Lampropoulos said his company is ready to take advantage of the worldwide recall of rival Cook Medical‘s central catheter sets.

The FDA in March slapped the Cook recall with a Class I label, denoting the risk of serious injury or death. It covers Cook’s single lumen central venous catheter sets and trays, single lumen pressure monitoring sets and trays, femoral artery pressure monitoring catheter sets and trays and radial artery pressure monitoring catheter sets and trays.

During a conference call with analysts yesterday discussing Merit’s 1st-quarter results, Lampropoulos sounded a note of regret in referring to the recall, calling Cook “a noble competitor,” but stressed that Merit stands ready to leap into the breach.

“In the 35 years I have been in the industry, I have never seen anything like this. It’s so unfortunate for a great company,” he said, according to Seeking Alpha. “It’s going to be, I think, a long time. Once you start pulling product you have to get it, of course, re-qualified. I do not want to speak on behalf of Cook, nor would be appropriate, but it’s going to be long and it’s going to be deep and it’s going to create a great opportunity for Merit.”

Lampropoulos, the founder, chairman and CEO at South Jordan, Utah-based Merit, said his company will have more comment on the recall’s impact after the 2nd quarter.

Merit hit the mark with its 1st-quarter earnings, meeting expectations on Wall Street despite a nearly -16% profit slide compared with Q1 2015. The company posted profits of $4.4 million, or 10¢ per share, on sales of $138.1 million for the 3 months ended March 31, for a top-line gain of 6.6%. Adjusted to exclude 1-time items, earnings per share were 19¢ per share, spot on target with the consensus on The Street.

“The first 3 months of 2016 were very eventful and we believe will have a positive impact on Merit for many years to come,” Lampropoulos said in prepared remarks. “We closed a transaction in early February with CryoLife to acquire the Hero graft product line.

“Our new facility in Mexico reached the point of break-even operations in March,” Lampropoulos said. “A few new product lines were transferred there in early April, which we believe will continue to support our plan of gross margin improvement.”

“Our new direct sales operation in Australia is performing ahead of schedule, and our new direct operation in Canada commenced April 1,” he said.

The post Merit Medical looks to capitalize on rival Cook recall appeared first on MassDevice.

from MassDevice http://ift.tt/1VWRgtA