It’s been a tough couple of months for BioLase Technology Inc., which nevertheless has been one of the county’s top revenue performers in the past three years.
The good: The San Clemente-based maker of lasers used during root canals and other surgeries moved up five spots to No. 3 on the Business Journal’s list of fastest-growing public companies based in Orange County.
BioLase posted three-year sales growth of 342% to $59 million during the past three years. Through the first half of 2004, BioLase’s sales grew 49% on a yearly basis to $29 million.
The bad: Revenue has fallen short of expectations and the company’s net income through the first six months was $1.4 million, down from $2.2 million for the first six months of last year.
Investors banged on BioLase shares after the company reported second-quarter results that fell short of expectations. The results triggered a flurry of class-action shareholder lawsuits against BioLase, including one by Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach LLP, led by San Diego-based partner and class-action kingpin William Lerach.
BioLase said it plans to vigorously defend itself against the shareholder lawsuits.
“We believe this lawsuit represents the very type of baseless suits instigated by class-action plaintiff’s lawyers that Congress has recognized as abusive,” said Jeffrey Jones, BioLase’s chief executive, in August, when one of the suits was filed.
But BioLase suffered another blow earlier this month when it cut its financial outlook for the third and fourth quarters. The company said it expected to post a loss in the third quarter on revenue of some $12 million.
The company blamed the revision on fewer orders resulting from poor attendance or cancelled trade shows in Florida and New Orleans because of hurricanes. BioLase also is coming out with a new Waterlase MD device that the company said caused customers to postpone orders.
BioLase is scheduled to report its third-quarter results on Wednesday. The company said it expects third-quarter revenue of $11.5 million to $12.1 million, less than the $15.8 million forecast earlier.
Investors hit the company’s stock, sending BioLase shares tumbling to 6.3,near a 52-week low and far from the period’s high of 21.4. The company had a market value of $153.5 million at recent check.
BioLase reportedly irked shareholders when it unexpectedly cancelled a planned presentation at a UBS investment conference in New York at the end of September, according to a CBS Marketwatch report.
The company’s main product is the Waterlase, a hard- and soft-tissue laser cutting system that first came to market in 1996. The Waterlase uses electromagnetic energy to turn atomized water droplets into smaller energized water particles that remove hard and soft tissue from a patient’s mouth during dental surgery.
BioLase’s other key product is LaserSmile, a device used in tooth whitening and soft tissue procedures. LaserSmile is meant to complement Waterlase.
The company has 201 workers, including 123 in San Clemente.
BioLase began developing and shipping laser-based dental devices in 1991 and went public a decade ago.
