Beckman Profit Increase of 14.3% Laid to Cost Control, Better Sales

FULLERTON — Beckman Instruments Inc., boosted by cost-containment efforts and a slight increase in sales of clinical testing equipment, said Monday that its third-quarter profit rose 14.3%.

The Fullerton-based maker of medical research and testing products reported earnings of $11.4 million, or 40 cents a share, compared to a profit of $10.3 million, or 35 cents a share, for the same period a year earlier.

Sales grew to $220.5 million, up 6% from $208.1 million for the same quarter a year earlier. Even so, the company said, changes in currency rates related to overseas sales contributed to 5% of that growth. Beckman’s revenue also gained because of an increase in sales of equipment that hospitals use in diagnostic testing of blood and urine, for example.

Beckman also makes research equipment such as centrifuges, the motorized arms that sweep test tubes in a circle and separate their contents. But government funding for research institutions has been shrinking, and colleges and universities have cut back on orders.

Instead, Beckman has been developing products for other markets, such as pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, that are not as dependent on public money and grants.

The latest profit figure is “encouraging at least,” said Robert C. Dunne, an analyst at Martin Simpson & Co., a New York brokerage. “They are making some penetration (into other markets). They have got to get new products in there, not just variations on old ones.”

Analysts predict that the company will finish the year with a profit of about $44 million, or $1.53 a share.

Beckman has been spending the equivalent of 10% of its sales on research and development, a slightly greater share than most other companies in the field commit to new products.

In the first nine months of the year, Beckman’s profit rose 13% to $31.4 million from $27.7 million for the same period a year earlier. Sales grew 5.5% to $658.6 million from $624.2 million.

In trading on the New York Stock Exchange Monday, Beckman’s stock closed at $21.13 a share, up 63 cents.