Oct 29 (Reuters) – Industrial equipment maker IDEX Corp raised the lower end of its 2024 profit forecast on Tuesday after beating third-quarter profit and revenue expectations, driven by a recovery in demand within its health and science division.
IDEX now expects its full-year adjusted profit to be between $7.85 and $7.90 per share, marginally higher than its previous forecast of $7.80 to $7.90 per share.
The company’s health and science technologies segment includes components and equipment used in clinical diagnostics and drug discovery, as well as in the food processing and cosmetic manufacturing industries.
The segment saw a sales contraction of 2.2% in the third quarter, compared to a decline of 35.7% in the second quarter. “We saw a healthy organic increase in orders within our Health & Science Technologies segment, strengthening our business positioning,” said CEO Eric Ashleman. This uptick in demand was led by sellers looking to restock inventories after a prolonged destocking cycle due to large inventory accumulations during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last week, peer Dover posted a 30% year-over-year increase in revenue from biopharma equipment, such as connectors and pumps. It also said that inventories were “mostly in-line” with customer demand.
Quarterly adjusted earnings per share stood at $1.90, compared with Wall Street estimates of $1.88.
Total revenue for the quarter ended September 30 was $798.2 million, up 4.8% from a year earlier. Analysts, on average, were expecting revenue of $791.25 million in the third quarter, according to data compiled by LSEG. (Reporting by Aishwarya Jain; Editing by Mohammed Safi Shamsi)
