nice earnings in downmarket... expect quite a nice pop in a week or two for those wanting a piece of the $2 dividend payout - not enough liquidity for larger institutions that want to enjoy the special dividend so we'll probably see a gradual uptick leading up to ex-dividend date...

just wish these earnings forecasts by sr. management team could be more aggressive!



http://www.medcitynews.com/index.php/200...

STERIS Corp. issues $2 special dividend to shareholders as it raises earnings expecations for fiscal 2010
November 3, 2009 by Mary Vanac
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Updated 1:41 p.m.

MENTOR, Ohio — STERIS Corp. will pay shareholders a $2-per-share special dividend in December and likely will be more profitable than expected in fiscal 2010, largely as a result of past cost cutting and fortuitous trends in foreign currency rates and raw materials costs.

The maker of infection prevention, decontamination and life sciences technologies and products on Tuesday reported higher profits but lower revenue in its second fiscal 2010 quarter than a year ago. Diluted earnings per share rose 13 percent to 54 cents from 48 cents in that time, while net income rose to $32.1 million from $28. 8 million, a rise of 11 percent.

Quarterly profit rose from a year ago at the same time revenue fell – 3 percent to $314.2 million from $323.2 million. That despite a $2 million bump up in hand sanitizer sales as a result of the H1N1 flu pandemic.

Profit and revenue exceeded the expectations of most securities analysts, who thought the company would earn 44 cents a share on revenue of $296.6 million, according to a Thomson Reuters IBES survey.

Based on its performance in the first half of fiscal 2010, STERIS updated its full-year earnings guidance Tuesday. “Our strong start to the year on the earnings front has caused us to increase our [earnings per share] expectations for the full year to a range of $1.90 to $2.05,” Walt Rosebrough, the company’s president and chief executive, told analysts and investors during a conference call. The company’s prior per-share earnings guidance was for between $1.80 to $2.00.

STERIS did not change its revenue expectations for the year ending March 31 — “from flat to down in single digits” from the prior fiscal year, Rosebrough said.
However, the company did put a number on the drop in revenue expected in the fiscal year for its System 1 tabletop medical equipment sterilizer — $20 million. That figure includes loss of capital equipment, service and supplies sales. ”That’s not materially different [from] our past thinking, we just hadn’t described that before,” he said.

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