One of the best performers on the ASX 200 index on Wednesday has been the Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corp Ltd (ASX: FPH) share price.
In afternoon trade the sleep treatment-focused medical device company's shares are up over 5% to $15.01
Why is the Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corp share price charging higher today?
Late this morning the company released its annual general meeting presentation and provided a trading update on its performance so far in FY 2020.
As you might have guessed from the share price reaction, things have been going very well for the company this year.
Managing director and CEO, Lewis Gradon, explained: "We've had a good start to the year and are on track to deliver strong revenue and earnings growth in the 2020 financial year."
This has been driven by strong growth in its Hospital Product division, which has continued to be supported by uptake in both the Optiflow nasal high flow therapy and non-invasive ventilation products.
As a result of this strong start and recent weakness in the New Zealand dollar, the company has upgraded its full year profit guidance.
For the six months ending September 30 2019, management expects to report approximately NZ$560 million in operating revenue and NZ$120 million in net profit after tax.
This means that instead of full year operating revenue of approximately NZ$1.15 billion and net profit after tax in the range of NZ$240 million to NZ$250 million, management now expects full year operating revenue to be approximately NZ$1.17 billion and net profit after tax to be approximately NZ$245 million to NZ$255 million in FY 2020.
The latter equates to a 17% to 22% year on year increase and is based on the NZ:US exchange rate being approximately 64 cents for the balance of the year.
This news appears to have given the ResMed Inc. (ASX: RMD) share price a boost on Wednesday. Its shares are up 0.5% this afternoon, potentially on the assumption that demand for both companies' products remains strong.
