Beckman Up 25% Over Year-Ago Quarter

Beckman Coulter Inc., the Fullerton provider of laboratory instrument systems and products, said Monday that its second quarter net income totaled $32.4 million, or $1.05 a share.

Its earnings were 25% higher than the $25.9 million, or 87 cents a share, recorded in last year’s second quarter. Sales increased 5% to $469.4 million.

The company said it expects earnings to increase by 13% to 15% for the year, and analysts are pegging annual earnings at $4 a share.

Beckman’s life science research segment posted sales gains of nearly 40% within the robotic automation and genetic analysis product area. Continued strong demand for products that simplify and automate genomic research and drug discovery fueled the gains, Beckman Coulter said. Total life science research sales rose 10.2% to $102.4 million for the period.