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Biotech / Medical : Summit Technology (BEAM) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: virgil vancleave who wrote (887)	6/17/1998 7:32:00 AM
From: pappy	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1386

I like it! Summit is "playing it real smart". It wants to shift gears and put the pedal to the metal. Read between the lines. Summit is going to start moving... Summit Technology Expects to Settle Charges: Bloomberg Forum Bloomberg News June 16, 1998, 2:03 p.m. PT Summit Technology Expects to Settle Charges: Bloomberg Forum New York, June 16 (Bloomberg) -- Summit Technology Inc., the second-largest ophthalmic-laser company in the U.S., expects to settle the price-fixing charges brought against it by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission soon, Chairman and Chief Executive Robert Palmisano said. In March, the FTC accused Summit and Visx Inc. -- the only two companies approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to sell lasers that perform vision-correcting eye surgery called photorefractive keratectomy -- of forming a patent pool and overcharging consumers an estimated $30 million last year. ''We have a clear path to reach a settlement with the FTC and feel very positive about the eventual outcome,'' Palmisano told the Bloomberg Forum. ''We have had discussions with the FTC. This is not going to be a long-term issue for our company.'' Waltham, Massachusetts-based Summit and Santa Clara, California-based Visx recently dissolved their partnership formed in 1992, in which the two paid into Pillar Point Partners, then shared revenue from eye operations using their lasers. The lawsuits Summit and Visx brought against each other have also been settled. Visx is the largest maker of ophthalmic lasers in the U.S. Other Lawsuits Summit, however, is facing lawsuits filed by a patient and several ophthalmologists. ''The settlement we reached with Visx and the eventual resolution with the FTC will make the other issues easier to handle,'' Palmisano said. ''The settlement with Visx opens the door to us changing the venue from the battleground being in a courtroom to the battleground being in the marketplace,'' Palmisano said. Palmisano said the industry is booming and Summit has some cash to burn. Palmisano said analysts expect there will be 350,000 to 400,000 laser eye surgeries done this year, up from 200,000 last year and about 70,000 in 1996. ''The analysts are projecting that in the year 2000-2001, over 1 million procedures will be done,'' Palmisano said. To take advantage of the industry's growth Palmisano said the company will look to use its cash reserves of about $100 million for acquisitions and developing new technologies. ''We'll be looking to buy equipment and technology,'' Palmisano said. There are currently about 400 Summit laser systems in operation around the world today and about half of them are located in the U.S. ''I thought that installations would only grow about 10 percent in 1998 but it looks like it's going to double or triple that,'' Palmisano said. In 1997, Summit reported net income from continuing operations of $1.5 million or 5 cents a share, on sales of $88.8 million. ''Most of the analysts are saying we should make between 20 and 30 cents pretax a share this year,'' Palmisano said. ''Those are reasonable projections.''