Lunar's second-quarter sales jump 62%

Lunar is continuing the strong growth trend in revenues it hasbeen experiencing for the last several quarters. The Madison,WI, manufacturer of bone densitometry equipment said that salesfor the second quarter of 1996 (end-December) jumped 62% to $16.9million, compared with $10.5 million in the same period last year.

Lunar's growth is primarily due to higher sales of its DPXbone densitometry scanner, especially in the U.S., according topresident Dr. Richard Mazess, who presented the numbers at theHambrecht & Quist Health Care Conference in San Franciscolast week. Sales of Lunar's high-end Expert system also increased,and the company believes it has resolved the component shortagethat has delayed Expert shipments.

Lunar's net income is also strong. The company expects netincome to be at least 24¢ a share after considering the company'srecent three-for-two stock split. That figure includes legal costsof about 3¢ a share related to its settlement of patent litigationwith Hologic (SCAN 10/11/95).

Mazess also announced that Lunar will spin off its Bone CareInternational subsidiary, which conducts early-stage researchon vitamin-D compounds for osteoporosis and other applications.