In This Article:
A month has gone by since the last earnings report for Bio-Rad Laboratories (BIO). Shares have lost about 5.5% in that time frame, underperforming the S&P 500.
Will the recent negative trend continue leading up to its next earnings release, or is Bio-Rad due for a breakout? Before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late, let's take a quick look at its most recent earnings report in order to get a better handle on the important catalysts.
BIO Q3 Earnings and Revenues Surpass Estimates
Bio-Rad posted third-quarter 2024 adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $2.01, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 57%. However, the bottom line decreased 13.7% from the prior-year quarter’s level.
The quarter’s adjustments primarily eliminate the impacts of certain non-recurring items, such as the amortization of purchased intangibles, restructuring costs and losses from the change in the fair market value of equity securities.
The company’s GAAP EPS was $23.34, up 541.2% from the year-ago figure of $3.64.
Revenues in Detail
Revenues of $649.7 million surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 2%. The figure also increased 2.8% year over year (up 3.4% at constant exchange rate or CER).
Segmental Analysis
Sales in the Life Science segment totaled $260.9 million, down 1% year over year and 0.6% at CER. The currency-neutral year-over-year sales decline was broad-based. It was primarily due to weakness in the biotech and biopharma end markets.
Net sales in the Clinical Diagnostics segment totaled $388.8 million, up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis and 6.4% at CER. Increased demand for quality control products and a favorable comparison for immunology products, which were adversely impacted by supply constraints in the third quarter of 2023, primarily drove the currency-neutral year-over-year sales increase.
Margins
In the quarter under review, Bio-Rad’s gross profit rose 6% to $355.9 million. The gross margin expanded 167 basis points (bps) to 54.8%.
Operating expenses amounted to $291.4 million, up 19.1% year over year. Operating profit totaled $64.5 million, down 29.1% from the prior-year level. The operating margin contracted 447 bps to 9.9%.
BIO's Financial Update
Bio-Rad exited the third quarter of 2024 with cash and cash equivalents (including short-term investments) of $1.63 billion compared with $1.62 billion at the end of the second quarter of 2024. Total debt (including current maturities) at the end of the third quarter was $1.20 billion, which remained flat sequentially.
Cumulative net cash flow from operating activities totaled $331 million compared with the year-ago figure of $293.9 million.