Merit Medical Sees 2014 Results In Line With View

(RTTNews) - Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (MMSI), a maker of medical devices, on Monday forecast financial results for fiscal 2014 in line with analysts' estimates.

For fiscal 2014, Merit Medical forecast earnings in a range of $0.53 to $0.57 per share and adjusted earnings ranging between $0.74 and $0.78 per share. On average analysts currently expect the company to report earnings of $0.76 per share for the year.

The company forecasts sales for the year in a range of $488.0 million to $498.0 million. Analysts have a consensus revenue estimate of $488.55 million.

The company expects revenue growth will be driven primarily by the introduction of new products, expansion from distributors to direct sales, and increased sales of embolic products as a result of recent regulatory approvals in Asia.

The company projects to increase gross margin by approximately 140 basis points in 2014. Merit anticipates that during a portion of the year, SG&A expense will be negatively affected by the transition from Merit's facility in Angleton, Texas, to its new facility in Pearland, Texas. The move is scheduled to commence in March and be completed in September.

For the first quarter of 2014, Merit estimates sales to grow by about 10 percent over the year-ago period, but will be sequentially lower than the fourth quarter of 2013. Street expects the company to report revenues of $115.51 million.

MMSI closed Monday's regular trading session at $15.15, up $0.06 or 0.40 percent on a volume of 230,463 shares. However, in after-hours, the stock declined $0.23 or 1.52 percent to $14.92.