Immucor Inc. (BLUD): Zacks Rank Buy
Bill Wilton
Friday December 26, 2008, 1:00 am EST

Immucor Inc.
Immucor Inc.(NasdaqGS: BLUD - News) recently reported a company record for net income in a quarter and completed an acquisition. Earnings are showing solid growth for next year and are traded at a fair value.
Company Description
Immucor is an international in vitro diagnostic company dedicated to automating manual processes in the hospital/donor laboratory. They develop, manufacture, and sell products used by hospital blood banks, clinical laboratories, and large blood-donor centers to test, detect, and identify certain properties of human blood prior to patient transfusion.
Immucor's instruments utilize patented solid phase technology reagents to perform ABO grouping tests, RH typing, antibody screening, and platelet cross-matching.
Record First Quarter Results
On Oct 1 Immucor announced one of the best quarters in company history that included revenues of $73.2 million, a 15% year-over-year increase. About 75% of the revenue growth came from the U.S.
Net income for the quarter was $20 million, the highest in company history. The figure translates to earnings of 28 cents per share. Wall Street was expecting 23 cents per share, making it the third consecutive earnings surprise.
Dr. De Chirico, President and CEO said, 'All-time highs were achieved in revenues, and net income for the quarter as our strategies to grow our business and the execution of our plan once again generated outstanding results.'
Growth With Reasonable Valuations
The current consensus for next year, fiscal 2010, is $1.16. The forecast represents a year-over-year increase of 19%. The current long-term growth rate is 20%, which brings the relatively high P/E ratio of 23.4 to a PEG ratio of 1.3.
Acquisition Complete
Immucor completed a previously announced deal to acquire BioArray Sollutions, a molecular diagnostic company specializing in blood transfusions. The cash only deal was valued at $108.2 million.
Shares of BLUD have been bouncing off of support at $22 per share. The level has been tested several times and is holding well.

IMMUCOR

Companies That Could Issue Positive Earnings Surprises
The fiscal second-quarter consensus earnings estimate for Immucor, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLUD - News) has risen by a penny over the past 30 days to 21 cents per share. The most accurate estimate is even more bullish at 24 cents per share. The reagent manufacturer has topped expectations for 3 consecutive quarters by an average margin of 4 cents per share. Immucor is scheduled to report on Wednesday, Jan 7, after the close of trading.