Hi-Tech Pharmacal stock sags as earnings drop

Shares of Amityville-based generic drugmaker Hi-Tech Pharmacal Co. dropped Wednesday morning as the company’s first quarter earnings fell short of analysts’ expectations.

The stock fell 12 percent, to $32.01, after the company reported that its net income fell 56 percent to $6 million, or 44 cents per share, during May, June and July.

Revenue slipped 7 percent, to $52 million as sales of the company's Fluticasone Propionate nasal spray dropped 15 percent on lower prices.

Analysts had expected earnings of 68 cents per share on revenue of $57.6 million, according to Thomson Reuters.

"This quarter was weaker than recent quarters for Hi-Tech, but we still anticipate growth in all of our businesses this year,” Hi-Tech Pharmacal president and chief executive David Seltzer said.

Hi-Tech Pharmacal employs about 400 people, including about 290 on Long Island. It also has a facility in Richmond, Va. In June, the company received a $500,000 grant from the Empire State Development Corp. to expand its Amityville facility in return for keeping the 290 jobs on Long Island and creating dozens of new ones.

Photo: Hi-Tech Pharmacal employees at the Amityville plant.