Surgical devicemaker ArthroCare ($ARTC) released generally rosy numbers for its 2012 third quarter--upbeat news following FBI arrests of former company executives earlier this year over an investor scandal. Investors were clearly pleased, driving the stock up more than 7.5% in late morning trading to $32.36.
Third quarter revenue hit just under $87 million, a 4.4% jump from $83.3 million in revenue reported during the 2011 third quarter. The number reflects, in part, higher product sales in the Americas and other international markets including contract manufacturing (in deals with Smith & Nephew and others); as well as ear, nose and throat-related devices and products. But international sports medicine product sales dipped 2.3%, the company said, due in part to a stronger U.S. dollar.
Overall, net income surpassed $9.9 million, compared to $2.4 million in the 2011 third quarter. Stockholders earned 27 cents per diluted share during the quarter, versus 5 cents per diluted share in the 2011 third quarter.
Late last summer, the FBI arrested two former ArthroCare executives and charged then with defrauding investors of more than $400 million over three years, an act allegedly accomplished by falsely inflating the company's earnings from Dec. 2005 through Dec. 2008. ArthroCare attempted to put the scandal behind it in 2011 when it settled a series of class-action securities suits related to the alleged fraud to the tune of $74 million.
- read the full earnings release