Heska edges profit expectations after quarter of European acquisitions

LOVELAND — Heska Corp. (Nasdaq: HSKA) surprised investors with a slightly positive earnings-per-share figure in the previous quarter after a European buying spree.

The Loveland veterinary diagnostics company reported $33.77 million in revenue for the fourth quarter Wednesday morning, a year-over-year drop of almost 1 percent and $160,000 short of Wall Street consensus expectations, according to data compiled by Seeking Alpha.

However, Heska posted a gain of 7 cents per share for the quarter instead of the expected loss of 2 cents per share.

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In a statement, Heska CEO Kevin Wilson said while its point-of-care testing revenue was higher than expected in 2019, overall revenues were hampered slightly by expected weakness in its existing manufacturing portfolio and a spike in research and market expansion spending.

The company is now moving to the next phase of its five-year growth strategy and expects to double the size of its global customer base this year via its acquisitions of two Spanish veterinary firms and the European arm of competing veterinary company Covetrus Inc. (Nasdaq: CVET). The latter deal was financed by a $125 million equity sale.

“Heska is now set to capitalize on the best period of opportunity for a diagnostics company that I can recall in my nearly three decades in the animal health-care space,” he said.

Heska stock rallied to $103.54 per share in early trading Tuesday, but later fell along with the larger market sell-off to $99.77, a gain of 5.12 percent on the day.