Conmed Posts 6.8% Fourth Quarter Sales Increase

Conmed Corporation announced on Wednesday, February 1, 2017 that sales for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2016 rose 6.8% over the prior year period. On constant currency basis, sales increased 9.1%, but declined 1.5% organically. International reported revenue grew 6.0% year over year and 0.4% organically. Net sales for the quarter were $204.1 million.

Conmed, which is headquartered in Utica, New York, is a global medical technology company. For the full year of 2016, sales were $763.5 million, an increase of 6.2% from 2015. On a constant currency basis, sales increased 8.6%, but declined 1.1% organically.

The following table shows the sales details for 2016.

Mike Matson, an analyst with Needham & Company, LLC, reported that Conmed Corporation in the fourth quarter experienced weak domestic orthopedic sales at the same time there was strong international growth.

He said, however, that “we maintain our Buy rating since we continue to expect revenue growth to increase in 2017 as SurgiQuest growth becomes organic and the Edge ablation system improves Orthopedic growth.”

Conmed President and CEO Curt R. Hartman, said in a press release, “Our international business and the domestic general surgery category, which represent 78% of our total revenue, exited the year with positive momentum. Overall, we are demonstrating consistent and improving performance across these areas.”

“Clearly, these successes were offset by ongoing challenges in domestic orthopedics, where we believe we are taking the appropriate steps to drive improvement in this business over the coming quarters,” he added.

For 2017, the company is anticipating 2017 constant currency sales growth between 1% and 3%. The negative impact to 2017 sales from foreign exchange is expected to be around 0.5%.