On Monday night, it was reported that the Federal Trade Commission has filed a complaint against the three largest U.S. dental supply companies in the country -- Benco Dental Supply, Henry Schein, and Patterson Companies (NASDAQDCO) -- for running afoul of antitrust law. When combined, these three businesses control about 85% of the $10 billion dental market.
Shares in Patterson Cos. fell 12% in premarket trading after the dental and animal-health products supplier fell short of earnings estimates in its latest period and guided pressure on pricing in the quarters ahead.
The St. Paul, Minn., company reported a first-quarter loss of $4.5 million, or 5 cents a share, on $1.34 billion in revenue. On an adjusted basis, Patterson earned 26 cents a share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected adjusted earnings of 34 cents a share on $1.3 billion in revenue.
Patterson also cut its full-year per-share earnings targets to between 84 cents and 94 cents, or between $1.40 and $1.50 on an adjusted basis. It had previously guided a per-share profit between $1.43 and $1.53, or between $1.73 and $1.83 on an adjusted basis.
"While our ongoing initiatives to improve the customer experience and enhance sales execution helped drive improved top line performance, these results were offset by competitive pricing pressures which negatively impacted our margins," Chief Executive Mark Walchirk said.
The company also established a pretax reserve of $28.3 million in connection with an expected settlement of an antitrust lawsuit, in which Patterson and other companies are accused of fixing prices on dental equipment.
Write to Bowdeya Tweh at bowdeya.tweh@wsj.com
> Dow Jones Newswires
August 30, 2018 07:39 ET (11:39 GMT)
作者:
Yvens 時間: 2018-8-31 09:52
開盤前殺了18% to 19.xx....想了很久買了20.7USD@75shares.....
後來又彈回到22.xx......有趣的現象....