Syneron Medical Beats Q1 Views

reported better-than-expected results for the first quarter on Wednesday. The Yokneam Illit, Israel-based company reported a quarterly loss of $1.5 million, or $0.04 per share, versus a year-ago loss of $1.1 million, or $0.03 per share. Excluding one-time items, the company's earnings slipped to $0.02 per share from $0.04 per share. Its revenue climbed 12 percent year-over-year to $63.4 million, while constant currency revenue surged 17 percent. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.01 per share on revenue of $62.1 million. Gross margin for the first quarter shrank to 51.6 percent from 51.7 percent. Operating loss was $1.4 million for the first quarter, versus $0.8 million, in the year-ago quarter. Amit Meridor, Chief Executive Officer of Syneron, said, "We had a good start to the year across our global business, achieving constant currency global revenue growth of 17%. This included strong product revenue in all regions, led by 32% growth in North America and double-digit constant currency growth in the EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions. During the quarter we continued to see strong interest in UltraShape and positive trends in per procedure Focal Treatment Zone (FTZ) consumable utilization from the installed base." Syneron Medical shares rose 0.72 percent to close at $12.59 yesterday.