NuVasive reported a revenue increase for the fourth quarter and full year of 2018.
Five things to know:
1. NuVasive reported fourth quarter revenue increased 6.3 percent to $288.3 million. Full-year revenue jumped 7.3 percent to $1.1 billion.
2. Total GAAP gross profit was $790.6 million in 2018, and the gross margin was 71.8 percent. GAAP operating expenses for the year were $736.4 million, and the company reported GAAP net income at $12.5 million, considerably lower than the GAAP net income reported in 2017 at $81.6 million.
3. In 2019, NuVasive projects revenue will hit $1.14 billion to $1.16 billion, growing at a 3.5 percent to 5.5 percent range. Full-year net income is expected in the range of $1.00 to $1.10 per share.
"In 2019, NuVasive will focus on continuing to deliver above market revenue growth, while balancing operating leverage with reinvestment opportunities," said CEO J. Christopher Barry. "We will demonstrate a disciplined approach toward funding key areas for long-term company growth, furthering our product leadership in global implant systems, accelerating our surgical intelligence platform and investing in surgeon training and education with an ongoing focus on globalization efforts."
4. Over the past year, NuVasive also made progress at its West Carrollton manufacturing facility and exited the year at 70 percent SKU rationalization.
5. During the company's fourth quarter and full year earnings conference call, Mr. Barry revealed NuVasive has begun a development assessment on a fully integrated robotic offering, the Pulse Robotics platform, which it aims to debut at the North American Spine Society Annual Meeting in September.
"Pulse is a foundational component of our end-to-end solution not only enable predictable clinical and economic outcomes, but also pull through innovative procedural solutions to create market stickiness and increase the cost of disruption of switching to another provider. By integrating many disparate technologies in a single platform, we're executing on an application system environment that addresses current gaps in the market and is applicable in 100 percent of spine cases," said Mr. Barry, as transcribed by Seeking Alpha.