Glaukos shares tumble despite Q1 beat

Shares in Glaukos (NYSE:GKOS) fell -10% today after the ophthalmic medtech company beat expectations on Wall Street with its 1st quarter results.

The San Clemente, Calif.-based company posted profits of $878,000, or 2¢ per share, on sales of $35.9 million for the 3 months ended March 31, for bottom-line loss of -2% on sales growth of 55% compared with the same period last year.

Adjusted to exclude 1-time items, earnings per share were 2¢, ahead of consensus on The Street, where analysts were looking for sales of $33.7 million. Compared to Q1 in 2016, earnings per share were down by a penny.

“This marks our 15th consecutive quarter of at least 40% year-over-year net sales growth, demonstrating continued strong demand for our pioneering micro-scale glaucoma products,” president & CEO Thomas Burns said in prepared remarks.  “We are off to a solid start in 2017, focusing our resources and energy on driving U.S. adoption of our flagship iStent Trabecular Micro-Bypass Stent, pursuing regulatory approval of our pipeline technologies and expanding our direct sales operations into targeted international markets.”

Glaukos raised its sales guidance for the full year of 2017, saying it expects to bring in between $162 to $167 million.

GKOS shares were trading at $42.52 apiece today in morning activity, down -10.7%.

Also this week, Glaukos said it finished enrolling patients for the investigational new drug Phase II study of its iDose travoprost intraocular implant in patients with glaucoma.

In the 150-patient trial, the iDose delivery system is designed to continuously elute a special formulation of travopost into the anterior chamber of the eye. The company plans to study 2 models of the iDose system with different travoprost elution rates compared to a topical 0.5% timolol maleate ophthalmic solution.

The trial will assess preliminary safety and efficacy in lowering intraocular pressure in patients with open-angle glaucoma, according to the company.