Zimmer Holdings 2Q profit falls on higher costs

The financial results fell short of Wall Street forecasts and shares fell $5.98, or 8.4 percent, to $64.90 in after-hours trading. The stock rose 52 cents to close at $70.88.

The company earned $227.1 million, or 99 cents per share, compared with a profit of $231.5 million, or 97 cents per share, during the same period a year prior. There were about 10 million less shares of common stock outstanding in the most recent quarter.

Revenue rose 11 percent to $1.08 billion from $970.6 million.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected a profit of $1.03 per share on revenue of $1.07 billion.

Sales of knee products rose 15 percent to $467 million while sales of hip products rose 12 percent to $343 million.

Meanwhile, operating expenses rose 18 percent to $508.8 million on higher selling, general and administrative costs.

In a statement, the company said it resumed Zimmer Institute training activities during the quarter, which supports the ongoing launches of several key products.