As a kind of coincidence, I was posting last night a response on MSN.com about a question on BioLase. I could quote my response, but I said I liked the company a lot. And here it is, Tuesday, and I am now listing it on my site as it has once again hit the Boards of the greatest % gainers. BioLase (BLTI) is having a very nice day today trading at $13.47 up $1.12 on the day or 9.06% as I write. I do not currently own any shares.
According to money.cnn.com, BioLase (BLTI) "...designs, develops, manufactures and markets laser-based systems for use in dental and medical applications."
On July 23, 2003, BLTI reported their second quarter results for the period ended June 30, 2003. (It should be noted that on 9/17/03, BLTI filed amended 10-K and 10-Q's...due to the need to report revenue more conservatively. They are now reporting revenue as products as shipped rather than when payment received. I am frankly not sure of the significance of this as it probably is just a 'wash' over the long haul.)
Anyway, for the quarter ended June 30, 2003, the results were strong: net income was $1.7 million ($0.08 per diluted share) on sales of $11.1 million. Last year, net income was $669,000 ($0.03 per diluted share) on sales of $7.2 million. This growth is quite impressive.
Morningstar.com evaluation reveals a very nice trend of revenue growth this past 5 years from $1.5 million in 1998, $7.0 million in 1999, $9.7 million in 2000, $17.9 million in 2001, and $29.2 million in 2002 with $33 million in the trailing twelve months. Actually, extrapolating the current quarter reveals an annual revenue rate currently at $44 million/year.
Earnings have improved from ($.69) in 1998 to $.14 in the trailing twelve months. With the current quarter at $.08/share we would get a current extrapolated earnings rate of $.32/share on an annual basis for 2003.
Free cash flow, which was negative at ($5) million in 2000, improved to ($1) million in 2001, $0 in 2002 and now $1 million positive in trailing twelve months.
Looking at balance sheet on Morningstar reveals $5.8 million in cash and $8.3 million in other current assets. This is quite adequate to cover the $8.3 million in current assets and there is only $100,000 in long-term liabilities reported.
The market cap per Yahoo is $289.50 million. Since the company has just turned profitable, there is no calculated p/e or PEG ratio. The price/sales is a bit rich at 7.32. BLTI has 21.5 million shares outstanding with 21.1 million that float. Currently there are 5.67 million shares out short, a large amount, representing 26.88% of the float as of 7/8/03. I do not see newer numbers on Yahoo so this is a bit outdated as a statistic. No dividend is paid.
This is another fast-growing biomedical technology firm that shows dynamic growth, nice improvement in both earnings and free cash flow, and a great balance sheet. The stock is not selling at a bargain, but it is a great company and I would love to own some shares....(Is there EVER a stock I see I do NOT want to buy?)...but you know the old story about margin, margin, margin.
Thanks for stopping by! Visit again. If you have any questions please feel free to post right here or email me at bobsadviceforstocks@lycos.com and I will try to get right back to you!
Bob