Steris Corporation (STE) recently posted solid fiscal third-quarter results. Revenues jumped 2% year-over-year, while net income of $28.6 million topped the year-prior $21.8 million.

Company Description

Steris Corporation provides infection prevention and surgical products and services to the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries.

The Company employs more than 5,000 employees around the world with the mission of providing a healthier today and a safer tomorrow through knowledgeable people and innovative infection prevention, decontamination and health science technologies, products and services.

Quarterly results Reflect Growth

Steris recently posted solid fiscal third-quarter results. Revenues jumped 2% year-over-year, while net income of $28.6 million topped the year-prior $21.8 million.

Excluding charges, earnings per share totaled 53 cents, compared to the previous year’s 35 cents.

Management stated that, as the case with many of its industry peers, STE saw the impact of the broader economic issues affecting its top-line performance in the third quarter. In particular, within the company’s Healthcare segment, sales for infection control related capital equipment saw a slowdown. However, STE’s surgical products showed strong growth in the quarter, driven by new products.

President and chief executive officer Walt Rosebrough said, “substantial growth in profitability was driven by the fine work of our people to improve our efficiencies in conjunction with acceptance of our new products by our customers. We now believe that fiscal 2009 revenue growth will be approximately 4%, while earnings will be toward the high end of our range of $1.65 – $1.80.”

Upbeat Forecasts

Analysts are calling for earnings of $1.77 per share for the year ending March 2009, which is up from last month’s $1.76.

For the following year, analysts are forecasting $1.83 per share, versus last month’s $1.62.

The company’s earnings per share are expected to grow about 15% over the next 3 – 5 years, which is in line with the industry average.

Competitive Payouts

Steris pays an annual dividend of 32 cents per share, which translates into a dividend yield of 1.2%.

The income shareholders receive from STE is well above the industry average as most of the company’s peers pay no dividends.

Content Courtesy: Zacks Investment Research

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