Shares of Beckman Coulter Inc. slid Wednesday after the company reported lower second-quarter profit and sales that were impacted by some weakness in Asia.
The Fullerton-based medical device maker said sales fell 0.4% to $616 million in the period, versus a year earlier. The decline primarily came from the company’s planned shift to a leasing model of sales.
But the company sales, which were slightly lower than Wall Street forecasts, also were affected by its Far East region.
The company said revenue in the Far East was lower than the company expected, down 7.3% due to shortfalls in Japan and China.
Sales in Japan were down more than 20% in the period on lower sales for its cellular-related products and in sales to life sciences markets, the company said in a release. Results in China were down about 9% for the quarter.
In China, Beckman has moved to a more direct sales model by forming a Foreign Invested Commercial Enterprise.
“This shift has gone slower than expected, with delays in transitioning our dealers, and the need to cope with additional governmental regulations,” said Chief Executive Scott Garrett in a release. “In addition, hospitals are delaying purchases due to an expanding Chinese government review of overall hospital buying practices. We expect to be back on track with our double-digit growth trend as we enter 2007.”
The company posted net income of $44.6 million in the second quarter, down 19% from a year earlier.
Shares of Beckman were down 8.8% to $52 in trading Wednesday.
Beckman lowered its sales outlook for 2006 based in part on the slowness in the Far East. The company now expects sales of $2.5 billion to $2.53 billion, up 3% from last year.
The company expects its profit to be $176 million to $189 million, in line with previous expectations.
