Edwards Life 2Q Profit Up 17% as Heart Valve Sales Rise

Edwards Lifesciences Corp.'s (EW) second-quarter earnings rose 17% as sales of transcathether heart valves continued to increase.

The medical-device company raised the low end of its full-year earnings projections by two cents to $2.60 to $2.68 a share. Edwards also revised its full-year revenue view to $1.9 billion to $1.97 billion. It had previously expected revenue at the low end of its earlier range of $1.95 billion to $2.05 billion.

The company issued a downbeat outlook for the third quarter, projecting adjusted earnings of 57 cents to 61 cents a share and revenue between $465 million and $485 million. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had projected 65 cents and $484 million, respectively.

Edwards is trying to expand the market for its Sapien heart valve in the U.S. A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel in June supported wider use for the devices, which are already approved in the U.S. for patients who aren't good candidates for open-heart surgery.

In the latest quarter, transcatheter heart valve sales advanced 71%, driven by the U.S. launch of its Sapien valve.

Chairman and Chief Executive Michael A. Mussallem said the company continues to expect its transcatheter technologies to continue to drive growth.

Edwards raised the low end of its 2012 global catheter-delivered valve sales projections by $30 million, now estimating sales of $550 million to $600 million. Given Sapien's strong second-quarter results, Edwards now expects U.S. sales of $240 million to $260 million this year, up from its April view of $200 million to $240 million.

For the second quarter, Edwards reported a profit of $67.8 million, or 57 cents a share, up from $58.1 million, or 48 cents, a year earlier. Excluding items such as special charges and tax settlements, per-share earnings rose to 67 cents from 49 cents. Revenue rose 12% to $482 million.

In April, Edwards projected adjusted earnings of 64 cents to 68 cents a share on revenue of $470 million to $500 million.

Gross margin widened to 73.1% from 70.4%.

Surgical heart valve therapy revenue fell 2.3%, though cardiac surgery system sales were up 5.5%. Critical care sales slipped 3.6%.

The company's stock fell 1% to $97.69 in after-hours trading and is up 35% over the past three months.

Edwards Life 2Q Profit Up 17% as Heart Valve Sales Rise