Earnings Calls In Brief
This article was originally published in The Gray Sheet
Executive Summary
Zoll eyes Physio-Control customers: External defibrillator maker Zoll will tap its $45 million in cash reserves to ramp up sales efforts, customer financing options and product inventory as it seeks to win over customers from rival Physio-Control following the latter firm's suspension of U.S. sales, Zoll says during a Jan. 25 earnings call. Physio-Control, a division of Medtronic, suspended domestic external defibrillator shipments Jan. 16 due to quality system lapses identified by FDA, and Zoll says it could start to see significant benefits by 2008 or 2009 (1"The Gray Sheet" Jan. 22, 2007, In Brief). Zoll's sales advanced 17% in its fiscal first quarter (ended Dec. 31) compared to last year - to $64.6 million. Earnings were up 107.8% to $2.4 million. As in 2006, the firm cited strong sales of its E Series defibrillatorand AutoPulse CPR-assist device as key growth drivers (2"The Gray Sheet" Jan. 22, 2007, p. 13). Zoll will start shipments this quarter of its FDA-cleared R Series hospital defibrillator. The firm also recently gained clearance to add its Real CPR Help feature upgrade to the E Series. Zoll's planned two-for-one stock split is effective Feb. 12...