Cardiac Science Inc. tops the Business Journal’s list of top three-year revenue performers for the second consecutive year.
The Irvine-based medical device maker has surged on sales growth of its defibrillators, which deliver tiny, but life-saving shocks to heart attack victims.
Cardiac Science’s revenue grew at a 1,231% pace for the three years ended June 30.
Sales have grown from $5 million for the 12-month period through June 2001 to $66.5 million for the year ended June 30 of this year.
Acquisitions have been part of the mix. In 2001, Cardiac Science bought a larger Minneapolis-based competitor, Survivalink Corp. It also snagged Sweden’s Artema Medical AB. In 2000, Cardiac Science acquired Cadent Medical Corp.
It hasn’t been all rosy for the device maker. Cardiac Science has been hit hard on Wall Street this year, thanks to some earnings shortfalls on higher manufacturing costs and delayed sales.
Cardiac Science said it expects sales for the quarter to be about $14.6 million, down from a July forecast of $16.5 million to $18.5 million. Revenue in the second quarter was $17.5 million.
Results are set to be released Wednesday.
The company said the lower revenue forecast was a result of several factors, including longer-than-anticipated sales cycles in the U.S. corporate and government markets, as well as increased competition in the municipal market and the impact of some $500,000 in back orders.
“Although sales in the U.S. market were lower than expected, we continue to make solid progress in our core corporate and government workplace markets, as evidenced by large orders we received in the third quarter from Amtrak, Jones Day Reavis and Pogue and others,” said Ray Cohen, Cardiac Science’s chief executive, in a release.
The company expects sales to bounce back.
“Our domestic pipeline is strong and we believe that the timing of certain large orders in the U.S., combined with a new $3 million order from our OEM (original equipment manufacturing) partner in Japan,” plus another with the British National Health Service for $3 million, “will result in a strong fourth quarter, with revenue expected to range between $18 and $20 million,” Cohen said.
Cardiac Science’s shares have bounced between 1.4 and 5.4 in the past year.
Last week they traded hands at 1.7, giving the device maker a market value of $148 million.
The device company is creating a name for itself in what’s called public access defibrillation,getting the machines into public areas and agencies.
Cardiac Science’s public sector customers include police departments, fire departments and municipal governments, including the city of San Diego.
In July, the company raised $12.5 million in a private placement financing led by Perseus LLC, a private equity fund manager with offices in Washington and New York.
Cardiac Science said it would use the money for working capital and to fund product development initiatives.
The company was created in 1991 through a spinoff from Medstone International Inc., a medical device company now based in Aliso Viejo.
