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Strategies & Market Trends : Drillbits & Bottlerockets -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jorj X Mckie who wrote (5389)	3/14/2001 1:22:55 PM
From: Original Mad Dog	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 15481

Hey, I'm still waiting for my Nazwag prize from yesterday! LOL Here's a stock I have had in the LTB&H account for about seven years now....wish I had more of it, but it has held up remarkably over that time, is even up over the carnage of the past few months...... They make replacement knees and hips, among other orthopedic medical devices....rumor has it that they will be coming out with a McKie line of products soon. <g> finance.yahoo.com (5-year chart) dailynews.yahoo.com Wednesday March 14 12:46 PM ET Biomet Up, Baby Boomers Ensure Growth By Debra Sherman CHICAGO (Reuters) - Biomet Inc. (NasdaqNM:BMET - news), a manufacturer of artificial knees, hips and other orthopedic devices, on Wednesday reported a 23 percent increase in fiscal third-quarter operating earnings, hitting the high end of Wall Street's forecasts, and said that the aging Baby Boomer market should ensure continued growth. Shares in Biomet, which have outperformed Standard and Poor's Medical Device index (^SPMED - news) by about 100 percent during the past year, were up 1/8 to $39-7/8 at midday, marking one of the few bright spots in an otherwise gloomy stock market. The Warsaw, Ind., company reported earnings of $55.4 million, or 31 cents per share, excluding items, for the quarter ended Feb. 28, compared with $44.9 million, or 25 cents, a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by First Call/Thomson Financial had presented a range of estimates from 29 cents to 31 cents a share. Net income came in at $38.2 million, or 21 cents a share, including a one-time pretax charge of $26.1 million for litigation. Net sales in the quarter climbed 14.3 percent to $266.3 million, with gains across all business units. ``Baby Boomers are in their mid-50s now...and we're approaching an age where our hips and knees need replacement,'' Biomet President and Chief Executive Dane Miller said. ``The population is aging and will need the kind of products we produce.'' Fourth-Quarter Forecast He said the range of analysts' fiscal fourth-quarter earnings estimates of 32 cents to 33 cents per share on revenues of $270 million to $290 are reasonable. The company earned 28 cents per share in the year-earlier period. In an interview with Reuters, Miller said he believes sales growth of 14 percent and earnings increases of 18 percent are sustainable as more individuals approach Biomet's target market, the 55-to-75 age group, when joints give out and more dental implants are needed. Miller said his forecast does not factor in acquisitions, although Biomet is considering making more of them to enhance its penetration in some of its key markets. ``This is probably a good time,'' he said. ``The upside of a down market is that it provides opportunities that didn't exist before.'' In the latest quarter, about half of the company's gains stemmed from market growth, with the other half coming from increased market share, Miller said. Among business units, Biomet's worldwide sales of reconstructive devices rose 15 percent to $158.7 million, led by a 10 percent increase in hip replacement systems. Sales were strong for the M2 Taper Metal-on-Metal Articulation System, the company's newest hip replacement product, which won U.S. regulatory approval last May. Total sales of knee replacement products rose 13 percent in the quarter, while sales of dental reconstructive implants and fixation products, including hone healing systems, rose in the double-digits. Sales of spinal products surged 99 percent in the latest quarter due to acquisitions, an expanded sales force and new products, the company said. ``What's interesting is that sales were strong across all business units,'' Prudential Securities analyst Sandra Hollenhorst said. ``Biomet has diversified and is getting into all these markets with strong product lines. That's obviously serving them well.''