LI dental distributor Henry Schein beats earnings expectations

Henry Schein Inc., Long Island’s largest public company by revenue, Tuesday reported net income that beat Wall Street estimates, but fell short on revenue in a quarter that one analyst described as “a little squishy.”

Shares of the multinational medical and dental products distributor rose 3 percent to close Tuesday at  $67.73.

For the quarter ended Sept. 28, the Melville company posted net income of $140.6 million, or 95 cents per share (91 cents per diluted share from continuing operations). That beat the 86 cents consensus estimate of analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research.

The quarter’s revenue of $2.51 billion, however, fell short of the $2.52 billion forecast by Zacks.

“We continue to make progress in growing organically with a focus on sales of higher-margin products while making strategic investments to supplement growth in the years ahead,” Stanley M. Bergman, Henry Schein’s chairman and chief executive, said in a statement.

The results from continuing operations exclude contributions from Henry Schein’s former animal health business, which was spun off in February as part of a new public company, Covetrus.

“All in, these results are a little squishy,” Elizabeth Anderson, an analyst at Manhattan brokerage and research firm EvercoreISI, said in a research note. She cited weakness in the North American dental market and a decline in gross margins.

For the quarter, dental sales increased 2.1 percent to $1.5 billion, while medical sales climbed 11.3 percent to $803.7 million.

In October, Henry Schein reached an agreement to be dismissed from a federal opioid lawsuit in Ohio, as other defendants reached settlements worth $260 million.

The agreements averted a trial to consider lawsuits filed by Ohio’s Cuyahoga and Summit counties.

Henry Schein, which was not named in the Cuyahoga County case, agreed to make a $1 million donation to establish an educational foundation with Summit County to develop “best practices regarding the proper use and prescription of opioids” and pay the county $250,000 in expenses.

It was unclear how the resolution of the Ohio cases would affect hundreds of other opioid lawsuits filed by municipalities around the country.

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By Ken Schachter

kenneth.schachter@newsday.comkschach

Ken Schachter covers corporate news, including technology and aerospace, and other business topics for Newsday. He has also worked at The Miami Herald and The Jerusalem Post.