Dentsply Sirona shares plunge after slashing full-year guidance

Shares of Dentsply Sirona Inc (NASDAQ:XRAY) fell sharply in Tuesday’s pre-market session after the maker of dental products pared back its full-year outlook as part of its second-quarter results.

While the company managed to beat Wall Street’s second-quarter profit and sales estimates for the quarter, it slashed its earnings per share guidance for 2018 to a range of US$2.00 to US$2.15 from its previous projection of US$2.55 to US$2.65.

Disappointed by the results, investors sent Dentsply’s shares plunging by 18% to US$39.75 before the opening bell.

CEO Don Casey said in a statement that the introduction of a new restructuring program would go some way towards turning around Dentsply’s fortunes.

“We are clearly not satisfied with our performance,” Casey said. “Our global management team is in the middle of an extensive review of the business and is putting together a comprehensive restructuring program. … We will begin to execute against this plan immediately and expect it to deliver  sustainable, consistent earnings growth and enhanced forecasting capability beginning in early 2019.”

In the quarter, the company reported a widening of its net loss to US$1.12bn, or US$4.98 per share, from US$1.05bn, or US$4.58 per share in the year-ago quarter. Stripping out items, which included a goodwill and intangible impairment charge of US$1.265bn, its earnings swung to US$0.60, which beat Wall Street’s estimate of US$0.59.

Its net sales, meanwhile, jumped to US$1.04bn from US$992.7bn, which brushed past the market’s consensus estimate of US$1.02bn.

Dentsply, which is based in York, Pennsylvania, is one the biggest manufacturers of dental products.

Story by ProactiveInvestors