ResMed Inc (ASX: RMD) shares are marching higher again on Monday.
In late morning trade, shares in the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) sleep disorder treatment company are changing hands for $37.55 apiece, up 0.7%.
ResMed shares ended last week on a strong note as well, gaining 1.5% on Thursday and another 0.5% on Friday.
This sees the ASX 200 healthcare stock up a very healthy 63% since this time last year. And that's not including the 21.4 cents in unfranked dividends eligible shareholders will have received over the 12 months.
And if you needed any more reasons to talk about ResMed shares, the company held its annual general meeting (AGM) on Thursday.
Here's what we learned.
ResMed shares march higher during 'exciting times'
ResMed CEO and chair Michael Farrell opened the meeting by noting the company's mission to change 500 million lives by 2030 via its "innovative and life-changing health technologies".
Underscoring the strong FY 2024 for ResMed shares, he said that over the 12 months:
We accelerated top-line and bottom-line growth by driving increased demand for our sleep apnea therapy solutions. We introduced new innovative technology, achieved over 300bps [3.0%] increase in our gross margin, and executed disciplined operating expense management.
Looking ahead, Farrel spurred investor enthusiasm, noting the company operates "in significantly underpenetrated markets".
And he said there will be more opportunities for ResMed shares ahead amid the "enhanced spotlight on sleep health and sleep apnea by big pharma and big consumer tech companies [which] will create even more demand for sleep health solutions".
Farrell added:
Throughout fiscal year 2025 and beyond, we're focused on demand generation and demand capture to ensure that the increased flow of patients entering the healthcare system have access to ResMed solutions so that we can be their 'sleep and breathing health concierge', enabling them to find the best health technology software solutions to live their best lives.
Key financial takeaways
Turning to some of the core financial metrics that drove ResMed's strong outperformance in FY 2024, the ASX 200 healthcare stock reported net revenue of $4.7 billion, up 12% from FY 2023.
The company achieved free cash flow of $1.3 billion while serving people in 140 countries over the year.
Over the 12 months, ResMed enjoyed 28% growth in the number of patients signed up for myAir, its patient self-help application, reaching 8.3 million at the end of the fiscal year.
And ResMed shares have enjoyed tailwinds from the addition of more than 10 million patient accounts to its out-of-hospital SaaS business systems, ending the fiscal year at more than 150 million patients.
Management noted that the ASX 200 healthcare stock has 9,700 issued and pending patents and registered designs.
And with the aim of growing that figure, the company invests 7% of its revenue in research and development.
