Cooper Profit Falls, Misses Estimates; Stock Down

(RTTNews) - Contact lens maker Cooper Companies Inc. (COO) Thursday reported a lower fourth-quarter profit, hurt by weak operating margin that offset a four percent growth in sales. Results for the quarter missed Wall Street estimates.

The company initiated guidance for fiscal 2014, the midpoint of which is indicated to miss analysts' expectations.

The announcement had a deleterious impact on Cooper shares, which slid 6.5 percent in after-hours trade on the New York Stock Exchange.

Pleasanton, California-based Cooper posted quarterly net income of $57 million or $1.15 per share, compared with $72 million or $1.46 per share last year.

Excluding items, adjusted earnings for the quarter were $1.48 per share. On average, 11 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $1.80 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Results were chiefly impacted by operating margin that slid to 15 percent from 20 percent a year ago, hurt by $21 million in costs related to the completion of the Aime divestiture.

Sales meanwhile grew 4 percent to $412 million from $396 million a year ago. Analysts estimated sales of $421.6 million.

Among segments, revenue from the CooperVision unit, which makes contact lenses, climbed 3 percent, and at CooperSurgical, which makes products for the woman's healthcare market, sales grew 8 percent.

Gross margin for the quarter was flat at 64 percent, partly helped by a lower royalty payment on silicone hydrogel lens sales and manufacturing efficiencies, offset by the impact of a weak yen.

Cooper Companies mainly competes with Alcon and Bausch & Lomb Inc. in the contact lens market.

For fiscal 2014, Cooper expects earnings of $6.70 to $7.00 per share and revenue of $1.675 billion to $1.735 billion. Analysts expect earnings of $7.00 per share on revenue of $1.71 billion.

Cooper stock closed Thursday at $133.62, up $1.74 or 1.32%, on a volume of 339 thousand shares on the NYSE. In after hours, the stock dropped $8.73 or 6.53% at $125.00. In the past year, the stock has traded in the range of $90.75 - $135.41.