ZimVie’s Shares Stumble After Cutting 2022 Sales Outlook

ZimVie is having some trouble coming out of the gate. The Zimmer Biomet spinoff saw its shares drop by as much as 11% last week after cutting its 2022 sales outlook to a range of $915 million to $930 million compared to its previous forecast of $1 billion. 

The dental and spine specialist said that it now expects adjusted earnings per share (EPS) will be between $1.80 and $2. The previous projection was for adjusted EPS in the range of $2.10 to $2.30.

“Our results in the quarter were impacted, to some extent, by shortage in the facility staffing and the elective nature of some of our procedures, damage which many of our peers have also stated,” said Vafa Jamali, president and CEO of ZimVie, according to a transcript from The Motley Fool. “However, we are not allowing a challenging macro environment to detract from our focus on strengthening our foundation and positioning to drive future growth.”

According to a transcript from The Motley Fool, Jamali said, “The decline year over year is due to less variable selling expenses from lower net sales, timing delays of cost to continue to stand up ZimVie as an independent public company and operational initiatives intended to reduce our cost structure.”

Zimmer Biomet announced it was spinning off its dental and spinal businesses in February of 2021. The reasoning behind the spin-off was so Warsaw, IN-based Zimmer Biomet could focus on high-growth segments of the orthopedics market, including knees, hips, S.E.T. (sports medicine, extremities, and trauma), and CMFT (craniomaxillofacial and thoracic).

ZimVie began trading under the symbol ZIMV on the NASDAQ on March 1.  Jamali was a guest on Let’s Talk Medtech to discuss the company’s launch.