2009 Outlook
Looking forward to 2009 guidance, ATS Medical re-affirmed its previous revenue guidance of $77 to $80 million representing a year-over-year growth rate of about 17 to 22%. Further, the company said it continues to expect to generate an operating profit on an annual basis and net income in the fourth quarter of 2009.
First Quarter 2009 Results
Revenue from the company’s heart valve therapy products, consisting of mechanical valves, tissue valves and repair products, was increased 24% on a year-over-year basis to $13.2 million. Revenue from the company’s ATS CryoMaze cryoablation products for the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias was $4.9 million, an increase of 27.4% compared to the first quarter of 2008. Total revenue growth excluding the impact of foreign currency fluctuations was 27.6%.
Gross profit margin for the first quarter of 2009 was a record of 66.7%, representing significant improvement from 60.3% in the first quarter of 2008. Year-over-year gross margin improvements were primarily the result of lower mechanical valve product costs resulting from increased production as well as growth in the company’s higher margin US business.
The operating loss for the first quarter of 2009 was $0.5 million compared with an operating loss of $3.6 million in the year-ago quarter.
We are very pleased with our solid first quarter revenue growth and margin expansion and believe today’s results demonstrate that our fundamentals remain strong across each of our product lines and geographies, said Michael Dale, president and chief executive officer. During the first quarter we achieved milestone results by surpassing $1.0 million in revenue on a quarterly basis in both our tissue valve and repair product lines for the first time in our history. As a result ATS is a more diversified company poised to benefit from a broad based product portfolio that will enable us to leverage our infrastructure as we drive towards profitability.
