Investors cheer Acuson’s year-end financials

Shares of ultrasound manufacturer Acuson got a major boost frominvestors this month after the Mountain View, CA, company postedfinancial results that saw a 12% increase in fourth-quarter revenues.Acuson said its revenue growth was due to shipments of its newSequoia and Aspen scanners.

For the year (end-December), Acuson posted revenues of $346.2million, up 5% compared with revenues of $328.9 million in 1996.The company recorded a net loss for the year of $10.6 million,compared with net income of $7.1 million the year before.

Acuson's revenue began to grow substantially in the second halfof the year, however, as Aspen and Sequoia shipments ramped up.For the fourth quarter, the company had record revenues of $93.7million, compared with sales of $83.6 million in the same periodthe year before. As Acuson predicted earlier this year, the vendorposted a fourth-quarter net loss of $2.9 million due to start-upcosts related to its product launches. Acuson had net income of$1.9 million in the fourth quarter of 1995.

Investors weren't fazed by the year-end and fourth-quarter losses,and instead found good news in the company's strong revenue growth.Acuson shares rose from around $25 a share before the resultswere released to nearly $29, and were trading at around $28.50last week. That's more than double the company's 52-week low of$12.63 a share.

In other Acuson news, the vendor was named the exclusive providerof radiology and cardiology ultrasound equipment to the Mid-AtlanticGroup Network of Shared Services (MAGNET) of Mechanicsburg, PA.Acuson replaced another ultrasound vendor as MAGNET's sole-sourceprovider, the company said.