Alere Q4 Loss Narrows, But Shares Dive 7%

(RTTNews) - Medical devices maker Alere Inc. (ALR), Thursday said its fourth-quarter loss narrowed from last year, on revenue growth, improved margins, and lower operating costs. Earnings for the quarter easily beat analysts' expectations, as did revenues. Nonetheless, Alere shares are currently trading down seven percent on the New York Stock Exchange.

Waltham, Massachusetts-based Alere's fourth quarter loss narrowed to $9.1 million or $0.11 per share from $68.3 million or $0.84 per share a year ago.

Excluding special items, earnings improved to $59.3 million or $0.68 per share from $46.3 million or $0.55 per share last year. On average, nine analysts polled by Thomson-Reuters estimated earnings of $0.62 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude one-time items.

Alere's revenues for the fourth quarter grew to $772.3 million from $755.8 million last year. Ten analysts, on consensus, expected revenues of $770.69 million for the period.

Net revenues from Professional Diagnostics segment rose to $600.7 million from $584.1 million a year ago. Net revenues from Health Information Solutions segment dropped to $130.0 million from $131.0 million last year.

Fourth-quarter gross margin, or percentage of revenues left after subtracting production costs, advanced to 50 percent from 49 percent last year.

Research and development costs dropped to $38.4 million from $63.0 million last year, while selling, general and administrative expenses declined to $307.2 million from $309.9 million last year.

ALR is currently trading at $34.39, down $2.54 or 6.88%, on a volume of 1.4 million shares, above the three-month average volume.