What went down came up a day later for Santa Ana-based Advanced Medical Optics Inc.
Shares of the maker of contact lens solutions and eye surgery devices took a wild ride at the end of October.
On Oct. 26, Advanced Medical cut its annual profit forecasts for this year and 2007, its second downward revision in recent months.
The company cited slower-than-expected growth in devices used for refractive implant and laser vision surgeries. Advanced Medical also pointed to lower prices for cataract products in global markets.
For this year, Advanced Medical said it expects to make $109.8 million to $112.7 million on sales of $1.01 billion to $1.02 billion.
Before, the company expected to earn $112.7 million to $115.7 million.
Based on Advanced Medical’s earlier guidance, Wall Street on average had been expecting the company to earn $114.5 million on sales of $1.01 billion.
For 2007, Advanced Medical said it now expects $133.5 million to $139.4 million in profits on sales of $1.08 billion to $1.1 billion.
Earlier, the company forecast $154.2 million in earnings for next year.
Investors reacted swiftly: Advanced Medical’s shares fell about 8% during trading the day of the revision before gaining ground and closing down about 3%.
But Oct. 27 was a new day. Advanced Medical’s shares came back, closing about where they were before the warning.
The company counted a recent market value of $2.4 billion.
A Citigroup analyst upgraded the company’s shares to “buy” from “hold,” saying he believed Advanced Medical’s “significant cut to 2007 guidance combined with a pullback in the shares offers an attractive entry point with limited near-term earnings risk.”
It wasn’t all rosy: Advanced Medical’s business “remains challenging as demand for laser vision correction remains stagnant and the company loses share in the contact lens care solution market,” Citibank said.
Meanwhile, stock guru Jim Cramer of The-Street.com took a run at Advanced Medical in the lightning round of his “Mad Money” show: “They just cut their forecast today. I don’t want to touch that It’s too bad you didn’t keep the company that spun it off, though, Allergan.”
Cramer said he’d ditch the company and go with former parent Allergan Inc. “on any weakness” at Advanced Medical.
Allergan, an Irvine maker of eye and skin drugs and medical cosmetic products, spun off Advanced Medical in 2002.
Concordia Plans Nursing Degree
Another Orange County university wants to add nursing to its offerings.
Concordia University, a Lutheran school, said late last month it’s seeking approval from the California Board of Registered Nursing and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges to offer a degree in registered nursing.
Concordia expects the nursing program to start in early 2008. The school is going after people who already have a bachelor’s degree and want to change careers.
Incoming students who’ve fulfilled prerequisites would be able to finish their nursing degree in three semesters, according to Concordia.
Concordia hired Colette York, who chaired the nursing department at Mount St. Mary’s College in Los Angeles for five years, to serve as interim director and nursing program consultant.
In September, the University of California, Irvine, said it would enroll 50 freshmen and sophomores in a pre-nursing program. California State University, Fullerton, offers advanced nursing programs. Some of the area’s community colleges also have nursing courses.
Hospitals Gain in Ranking
Orange may not be the largest city in the county. But it’s the only one to boast three hospitals that placed in the Leapfrog Group’s “top hospitals list.”
Children’s Hospital of Orange County, UCI Medical Center and St. Joseph Hospital-Orange showed up in Leapfrog’s latest quality and safety survey, which asked hospitals about their awareness of and action on 30 practices endorsed by the National Quality Forum.
Survey topics include computerized doctor order entry and the use of specialists who oversee patient care in intensive care units.
Washington, D.C.-based Leapfrog, started nearly six years ago by the Business Roundtable, is made up of the country’s largest employers and aims to use their purchasing power to spur improvements in healthcare safety, quality and customer value. Leapfrog’s supporters include the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Bits and Pieces:
Mike Scioscia, manager of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, presents: “Fit to Win: A Discussion of Managerial Health Care Strategies” at the Nov. 16 meeting of the Orange County Employee Benefit Council. The morning meeting is at the Beckman Center at University of California, Irvine. Information: www.ocebc.org Danaher Corp., which spent $2 billion to buy Sybron Dental Specialties Inc. of Newport Beach in May, is spending $520 million for Vision Systems Ltd., an Australian medical device maker Visiogen Inc. of Irvine said clinical studies presented at the European Society of the Cataract and Refractive Surgeons’ congress in London showed positive results of Visiogen’s Synchrony intraocular lens in cataract patients with presbyopia, or difficulty reading up close FlexScan Inc. of Mission Viejo said it is going to provide disease screening, health risk assessments, online diet and fitness programs and electronic personal health records to some 480 employees of Coastal Communities Hospital of Santa Ana.
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