Revenue was $53.95M vs. GS' $52.8M and HQ's$53.1M estimates. As Charlie reported, bottom line was 4 cents over both consensus and the most bullish estimate, including GS' upward revision just 1 day ago. This continues to be a fast moving target.
The only concern is GS' mention in its note yesterday that the "U.S. Patent Office has issued an initial office action on two of VISX's core patents" based on a request for a re-exammination by a "physician in Colorado, who claims to have access to prior art." According to GS "the patent re-exam includes the Trokel patent (5,108,388), which covers the broad area of refractive surgery using a laser and the Warner patent (4,903,695), which covers claims for LASIK."
Further, according to GS, "in the initial office action, the patent office has rejected the claims of the patents - which is common with a patent re-examination. As part of the process, VISX will now be required to support its patent claims through written documentation in the next six months." |
