Sleep apnea device continues to drive Inspire Medical sales growth

Inspire Medical Systems, the Golden Valley-based maker of a device to treat sleep apnea, beat estimates for second-quarter sales growth and executives raised their outlook for the rest of the year.

At the outset of a call with analysts late Tuesday, Chief Executive Tim Herbert said that the results showed a "very strong second quarter."

Sales grew 73% to $91.4 million, beating analysts' estimates by $13.3 million.

The company reported a net loss of $14.5 million, which amounted to 53 cents a share. The consensus view of analysts was for a loss of 60 cents a share.

The company overcame supply chain issues and other challenges that have been hurting the medtech sector. "We do not expect COVID to have a negative impact on our business going forward," Herbert said.

The company's shares rose 3.7% on Tuesday ahead of the results announcement. The stock climbed 0.7% on Wednesday, not as fast as broader market indexes.

To treat sleep apnea, Inspire Medical developed a neurostimulation device that can be implanted in an outpatient procedure. There is no similar device available on the market.

Executives raised their guidance for the second time this year, They now expect full-year sales in the range of $354 million to $362 million, up from the range of $336 million to $344 million that they forecast three months ago.

In a research report on the results J.P. Morgan analyst Robbie Marcus wrote, "With a good quarter despite a challenging backdrop, we continue to remain bullish on Inspire and expect management to continue exceeding growth expectations."

Inspire Medical is currently developing the fifth generation version of its implantable device and is targeting 2023 for FDA approval of it, Herbert said. The new version may allow them to trim procedure time from 90 minutes down to 60 minutes.

Rick Buchholz, Inspire Medical's CFO, said that the average selling price for the device was $24,100 in the U.S. for the second quarter.

Inspire went public in April 2018 at $24 per share. On Tuesday the company's stock closed at $216.83 — an 803% gain over its IPO price.