The Cooper Companies Inc. reported unaudited consolidated earnings results for the first quarter ended January 31, 2013. For the period, the company reported net sales of $379,839,000 against $326,060,000 a year ago. Operating income was $68,821,000 against $61,728,000 a year ago. Income before income taxes was $80,976,000 against $58,747,000 a year ago. Net income attributable to company's stockholders was $74,667,000 or $1.50 per diluted share against $54,623,000 or $1.12 per diluted share a year ago. Non-GAAP operating income was $69,446,000. Non-GAAP income before income taxes was $67,517,000. Non-GAAP net income attributable to company's stockholders was $61,038,000 or $1.23 per diluted share. Cash provided by operations of $47.6 million, capital expenditures of $29.3 million, insurance recovery $0.6 million, and excluding acquisition costs of $0.3 million resulted in free cash flow $19.2 million for the quarter and that brings trailing twleve-month free cash flow to $226 million. Capital earnings per share was $1.50, up 34%, which includes $14 million of business interruption. The company's full year gross margin will be in a range of 64% to 65%. The reduction in operating margin is attributable to the year-over-year decrease in gross margin, partially offset by improvements in SG&A. The company revised earnings guidance for the year 2013. For the period, the company expects revenue to be in range of $1,575 million to $1,625 million against previous guidance of $1,565 million to $1,625 million. EPS expect to be in range of $6.22 to $6.37 against previous guidance of $5.90 to $6.10. Non-GAAP EPS expect to be in range of $5.95 to $6.10. Free cash flow expects to be in range of $170 million to $200 million against previous guidance of $210 million to $230 million. For the full year, the GAAP effective tax rate is expected to be in the range of 7.5% to 9.5%, and the non-GAAP effective tax rate is expected to be in the range of 10% to 11%.

The Cooper Companies Inc. Presents at Barclays Global Healthcare Conference, Mar-12-2013 09:30 AM. Venue: Lowes Miami Hotel, Miami, Florida, United States. Speakers: Gregory W. Matz, Chief Financial Officer and Vice President.

Shareholders in The Cooper Companies Inc. sued the firm and certain of its executives for securities fraud alleging the defendants made false and misleading statements in connection with the recall of defective contact lenses in order to manipulate the firm's stock price. The complaint alleged that the defendants artificially inflated the firm's stock price by concealing and downplaying design flaws with its 'Avaira' contact lenses, resulting in serious injury to consumers, which ultimately led to multiple product recalls. The defendants moved to dismiss. The district court rejected the plaintiffs' contention that the 'core operations' inference independently supported a finding of scienter. The record indicated that the firm launched an independent investigation into reports of problems with the Avaira lenses in June or July 2011 and publicly disclosed in August 2011 that it was investigating complaints about the lenses. The district court determined that complaint failed to allege specific facts about the defendants' knowledge of and exposure to the problems regarding the Avaira lenses prior to the first recall, and there was no allegation that Cooper was aware of the more severe problems associated with its Avaira lenses, such as torn corneas, prior to an Oct. 11, 2011, MSNBC.com article. In the absence of allegations of specific knowledge, the allegation of scienter based on the individual defendants' roles in the company was insufficient. The court separately held that confidential witness testimony offered by the plaintiff was not sufficient to support scienter. The opinions offered by the witnesses were not sufficiently fact-based to permit an inference that specific information about adverse reports was conveyed to the individual defendants.