Updated 4:34 p.m.
Shares of Meridian Bioscience Inc. rebounded a bit Thursday–a day after the Cincinnati diagnostic test maker cut its sales and earnings outlook for the fiscal year ending in September, sending its shares down 15 percent.
Meridian shares rose 50 cents, or 2.5 percent, to $20.58 Thursday on the Nasdaq Stock Market. On Wednesday, the company’s shares lost $3.67 to close at $20.08 after the company said its fiscal second quarter sales of test kits for upper-respiratory infections had “collapsed” because of the abrupt end of the H1N1 pandemic in early December. These sales had risen 83 percent during 2009 as the world dealt with the flu pandemic.
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The company also said it would file with the Food and Drug Administration next week pre-market notification for its first molecular test, called illumigene–this one for C. difficile bacteria.
Meridian now expects diluted earnings per share of between 70 cents and 80 cents in the year ending March 31. Previously, the company had expected per-share earnings in the range of 90 cents to 95 cents. Sales expectations have been cut to between $145 million and $153 million from a range of $160 million to $165 million.
The company said preliminary results for its second fiscal quarter, ended Dec. 31, show second-quarter net sales between $30 million and $33 million, and diluted earnings per share between 13 cents and 15 cents. Although Meridian does not provide quarterly sales and earnings guidance, the company said securities analysts have estimated net sales in the range of $37.2 million to $39 million, and diluted earnings per share between 21 cents and 22 cents.
Analysts’ consensus median estimate for net sales was $38.6 million, Meridian said, while their median diluted earnings per share estimate was 22 cents. In last year’s second fiscal quarter, Meridian had net sales of $33.3 million and diluted earnings per share of 18 cents.
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Meridian management intends to recommend to the company’s board that it keep its 76-cent-a-share annual dividend.
In addition to the drop in upper-respiratory test sales, the company was challenged to keep its leading market share for C. difficile tests. Increased competition from traditional tests, as well as from emerging molecular tests, cut Meridian sales in the first half of fiscal 2010. The company is hoping its illumigene C. difficile product “will provide a strong competitive response” when it is introduced later this year.
