Yahoo Finance Electromed, Inc. (AMEX:ELMD) Q3 2024 Earnings Call Transcript
Electromed, Inc. (AMEX:ELMD) Q3 2024 Earnings Call Transcript May 7, 2024
Electromed, Inc. beats earnings expectations. Reported EPS is $0.17, expectations were $0.13. Electromed, Inc. isn’t one of the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds at the end of the third quarter (see the details here).
Operator: Greetings, and welcome to the Electromed Third Quarter Fiscal 2024 Financial Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mike Cavanaugh, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.
Mike Cavanaugh: Good afternoon, and thank you for joining the Electromed earnings call. Earlier today, Electromed Incorporated released financial results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2024. The quarter ended March 31, 2024. The release is currently available on the company's website at www.smartvest.com. Before we get started, I would like to remind everyone that some of the statements that management will make on this call are considered forward-looking statements, including statements about the company's future operating and financial results and plans. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual performance or achievements to be materially different from those projected. Any such statements represent management's expectations as of today's date.
You should not place any undue reliance on those forward-looking statements, and the company does not undertake any obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Please refer to the company's SEC filings for further guidance on this matter. With that, I will now turn the call over to Jim Cunniff, President and Chief Executive Officer of Electromed.
James Cunniff: Thanks, Mike, and thank you to everyone joining today's call. I'm thrilled to announce another record revenue quarter for Electromed. This is the second quarter in a row of record revenue that I've been able to share with you. Total net revenue for the third quarter of fiscal year 2024 came in at $13.9 million, representing a 15% year-over-year growth from the same period in fiscal year 2023. This is the sixth straight quarter of mid-teens or better revenue growth and resulted in quarterly earnings of $1.5 million or $0.17 per diluted share. Similarly, I'm proud to highlight that operating income for the quarter was $1.8 million, a growth of 54% over the same period in the prior fiscal year. Additionally, for a third straight quarter, we grew revenue in all three of our categories homecare, hospital, and other.
I'll hand the call over to Brad to discuss the quarter's financials in more detail shortly. But first, I want to provide a business update and address the cyber attack on Change Healthcare and its impact on Electromed. First, the company's consistent growth strategies are generating positive results through our focus on developing best-in-class products, exemplary customer service, disciplined commercial expansion and operating excellence. We have continued to generate double-digit revenue growth and capture operating leverage, which we believe is a compelling combination for investors in a difficult market for small- and micro-cap companies. As discussed on last quarter's call, we believe Electromed's shares are undervalued given our prospects for growth, profitability, cash generation, and our rock-solid balance sheet with no debt, which makes us a micro-cap standout in the medtech space.
Investor feedback highlighted that our story is resonating since our last earnings call, which was also reflected in our stock price as our shares were appreciated substantially since we reported fiscal year 2024 Q2 results. Even after our stock appreciated, I invested in the stock this past quarter because of the optimism I have in the ability of the Electromed team to continue to generate positive results, namely double-digit revenue growth coupled with operating leverage. Additionally, I want to remind investors that my equity incentive reward is based largely on increasing total shareholder returns, and management's cash incentive compensation is focused solely on delivering financial results, which aligns us to our investors' goals and helps keep shareholder value as a top priority.
This segues nicely into an update on our commercial initiatives. I'm happy to report that we have expanded our sales team from 49 direct sales reps in Q2 to 51 at the end of Q3. We continue to attract top-flight sales talent to represent the newest and, we believe, the best HFCWO technology in the market today. We will continue our deliberate sales force expansion plans to drive further market penetration and to support a larger pool of physician prescribers. We have also revamped our sales hiring process by recruiting sales reps whose backgrounds and experiences most closely match our top performers and can successfully execute what is largely a clinical sale. Additionally, we have upgraded our sales training, so reps can be more effective sooner in serving our customers and drive revenue growth.
Recently, we were awarded the Corporate Partner of the Year by the California Society of Respiratory Care in recognition of the impact our sales and clinical teams are having in serving our customers. Also, we recently conducted a survey from our SmartVest Connect program, where respiratory therapists provide personalized in-home training, follow-up, total respiratory support, and stay connected with patients to support therapy utilization. And we are pleased to report that 95% of the patients stated they would recommend SmartVest to others. Also, as mentioned at our last earnings call, our recent market study confirmed that there are roughly 824,000 patients in the US that have been diagnosed with bronchiectasis. Of that total, roughly 230,000 are managed by a pulmonologist, and the remaining patients are being managed by a primary care physician.
If all of these 230,000 patients were prescribed HFCWO at an estimated sales price of $10,000 per patient, it equates to a $2.3 billion revenue opportunity. However, only a fraction of these patients are being prescribed HFCWO therapy. We believe there's work to be done in unlocking the market opportunity through creating more awareness with providers of the benefits in treating bronchiectasis patients with our SmartVest Airway Clearance technology earlier in the care continuum. In support of that objective, in April, we launched a live continuing education units or CEU webinar tailored to the respiratory therapist regarding the use of airway clearance in the treatment of bronchiectasis, which is designed to result in patients getting the benefits of HFCWO sooner, so they can breathe easier and live more actively.
This program was well attended by over 190 participants. In that same vein, I'm pleased to report that we have launched a new clinical resource center as part of our website, the clinical resource center is tailored to the needs of clinicians, where they can explore our prescriber resources, upcoming events, programs for CME credits, educational videos, and our latest clinical studies. Also in Q3, we rolled out SmartAdvantage, which are sales programs in clinic support resources that showcase our exceptional customer service and seamless ordering process in support of the clinics we serve. Feedback from our providers and patients regarding SmartAdvantage has been excellent. They appreciate how we have alleviated some of the administrative challenges both providers and patients deal with in navigating payer requirements for our technology.
Lastly, on February 21, there was a cyber attack which began against Change Healthcare, crippling financial operations for hospitals, insurers, pharmacies, and medical groups nationwide. Change Healthcare is a financial clearinghouse that works across the health system to make clinical, administrative, and financial processes simpler and more efficient for payers, providers, and consumers. Unfortunately, because of the breach, provider claims to payers dropped significantly. Fortunately, because of the excellent work by Kristine Beyersdorf, our Vice President of Reimbursement and Payer Relations, and her team, I am happy to report that we resolved nearly 75% of our delayed claims by the end of the quarter with a successful submission through an alternative clearinghouse to Change Healthcare.
Although we experienced a three-week delay in non-Medicare claims submissions, there are still providers that have not been able to submit claims at all today. Our cash position of $11.7 million by the end of Q3 allowed us to endure the payment delays providing the time necessary to develop contingency plans to the crisis. Lastly, as of today, we have resolved 98% of our delayed claims and expect to be 100% resolved in Q4. I'm excited about the trajectory of the business and look forward to continuing to drive top-line growth combined with expanding operating leverage. With that, I'll turn the call over to Brad to discuss our financials. Brad?
Bradley Nagel: Thank you, Jim. All amounts I will be discussing represent amounts for the three months ended March 31, 2024, or Q3 fiscal 2024 and compared to the prior-year amounts for the three months ended March 31, 2023, or Q3 fiscal 2023. Net revenue for our third-fiscal quarter grew 15% over last year to a record $13.9 million. Homecare revenue for the quarter increased by or 12% compared to the prior year. The increase in revenue was due to an increase in direct sales representatives and efficiencies recognized within our reimbursement department as a result of recent investments made to streamline the claims process. Q3 hospital revenue was $783,000, an increase of $343,000 or 78% compared to the prior year. The increases were primarily due to an increase in sales representatives focused on the hospital market and increased capital and disposable demand.
As a reminder, the sales cycle for our hospital business is long, which can result in large revenue changes on a quarterly basis. Homecare distributor revenue for the quarter increased by $23,000 or 4.6% compared to the prior year. Homecare distributor sales are affected by the timing of distributor purchases that can cause significant fluctuations in reported revenue on a quarterly basis. Other revenue was $277,000, an increase of $121,000 or 77.6% compared to the prior year. Other sales are affected by the timing of international distributor purchases and purchases by customers that do not fall within the aforementioned markets that can cause significant fluctuations in reported revenue on a quarterly basis. Gross profit increased to $10,382,000 or 74.8% of net revenues from $9,056,000 or 75% of net revenues in the prior year.
The slight decrease in gross profit as a percentage of net revenues compared to the prior year was primarily due to costs associated with the wind-down of our previous generator models. Turning now to our operating expenses. Selling, general and administrative or SG&A expenses were $8,374,000, representing an increase of $680,000 or 8.8% compared to the prior year. Payroll and compensation related expenses were $5,721,000, representing an increase of $684,000 or 13.6% compared to the prior year. The increase was primarily due to increased share-based compensation, salaries, and incentive compensation related to the higher average number of sales, sales support, marketing and reimbursement personnel to process higher patient referrals. Travel, meals, and entertainment expenses were $760,000, representing an increase of $102,000 or 15.5% compared to the prior year.
The increase was due to a higher average number of direct sales representatives, higher travel costs, and an increased number of sales territories and a mid-year sales meeting held in Q3. Total discretionary marketing expenses were $304,000, representing an increase of $92,000 or 43.4% compared to the prior year. The increase was primarily due to an investment in market research as well as direct-to-consumer and direct-to-physician marketing. Professional fees were $978,000, representing a decrease of $410,000 or 29.5% compared to last year. Professional fees are primarily for services related to legal costs, shareowner services and reporting requirements, information technology, technical support, and consulting fees. The decrease was primarily related to legal and consulting costs last year associated with the termination of the public health emergency for COVID-19 and previous-year recruiting costs for multiple senior leadership positions that did not recur in fiscal 2024.
Research and development or R&D expenses were $167,000, representing an increase of $1,000 or 0.6% compared to the prior year. Net interest income increased $94,000 to $120,000 for the quarter. The greater than 360% increase over last year is primarily due to increased savings rates associated with our cash balances. When putting these Q3 results together, we are happy to report another strong earnings quarter with pre-tax income of $2 million, net income of $1.5 million, and quarterly EPS for our shareholders of $0.17 per diluted share. As of March 31, 2024, the company had $11.7 million in cash and cash equivalents, $23.9 million in accounts receivable, and no debt. Total shareholders' equity was $42.6 million. With that, we'd like to move to the Q&A portion of our call.
Operator, please open the call to questions.
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