Brentwood medical supply company's stock falls

Medical Action Industries Inc., of Brentwood, made it onto Friday's Associated Press list of the top 10 stocks on the Nasdaq exchange with the biggest percentage loss.

Its stock fell 8.6 percent to close at $8.73 on Friday.

The decline came after the company, which makes medical and surgical products, disclosed that its profits dropped for the fourth quarter ending March 31.

Increases in the cost of raw materials such as resin and cotton led to a less-profitable fourth quarter, the company said.

The company said it earned $1.1 million, or 7 cents per share. A year ago, Medical Action reported a profit of $5.2 million, or 32 cents per share.

The lower profit came in spite of higher sales. Medical Action’s revenue rose 48 percent to $105.3 million from $71.2 million. The company said it received $34.2 million in revenue from Avid Medical, a company it bought last summer.

Medical Action said that rising costs hurt annual results. "We believe that raw material costs, particularly resin and cotton, will continue to influence our gross margins in the near term," the company said. "We have responded to rising raw material costs by implementing price increases where commercially practical and managing our operating expenses." 

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