Hologic Falls After Q4 Beat, Weak Guidance

Hologic (NASDAQ: HOLX) reported positive fourth quarter results, but they were not enough to stop investors from selling the stock.The company is down more than seven percent in after hours trading, thanks to Q1 EPS guidance of $0.30 to $0.31 versus the Street estimate of $0.40.Sales expectations are also lower, coming in at $600 million to $610 million versus the Street estimate of $642 million.Hologic's guidance may be viewed as a massive disappointment, particularly after the company announced a Q4 EPS of $0.39 versus $0.37. Earnings per share were up five percent from the year-ago period.Revenue arrived at $622.1 million versus the Street estimate of $624.42 million. Sales were up four percent year-over-year."We have made significant progress in recent months in reviewing the strategy, leadership and cost structure of each of our businesses, all with a focus on making changes to the organization that will enable us to leverage our strong product platforms going forward," Jack Cumming, President and Chief Executive Officer, said in a company release."We expect fiscal 2014 to be a transitional year for the Company and we remain confident the changes we are making to enhance the organization, combined with improving trends across our portfolio of market-leading products, will drive stronger financial performance in fiscal 2015 and beyond."Hologic closed up more than three percent this afternoon. The stock is up more than eight percent year-to-date.Disclosure: At the time of this writing, Louis Bedigian had no position in the equities mentioned in this report.Louis Bedigian is the Senior Tech Analyst and Features Writer of Benzinga. You can reach him at louis(at)benzingapro(dot)com. Follow him @LouisBedigianBZ