News in brief - May 12, 2003

Internet fraud soars - Palm heads into Wi-Fi market - Sales up, earnings down for Edwards - MedImmune completes turnaround - Laserscope makes gain in first quarter

Internet fraud soars

The Internet Fraud Complaint Center referred almost three times as many cases of alleged Internet fraud to law enforcement agencies in 2002 than it did in 2001.

Last year, IFCC, a Web portal managed by the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center, referred 48,252 consumer complaints to state and federal prosecutors, up from 16,252 complaints in 2001. The total dollar loss from referred fraud cases was $54 million, up from $17 million.

Most complaints involved auction fraud (46%), merchandise nondelivery and nonpayment (31%), and credit and debit card fraud (12%).

Increased consumer awareness about the IFCC partly accounts for the increased volume of complaints, said a spokeswoman for the 3-year-old Web site. Consumers filed 75,063 complaints in 2002, up from 49,063 in 2001.

Palm heads into Wi-Fi market

Palm Inc. has entered the wireless fidelity market, introducing a new personal digital assistant that will become available this month. The Tungsten C has a built-in Wi-Fi antenna, 64 MB of memory and a more powerful battery than previous PDAs made by Palm.

Wi-Fi is a networking standard that allows multiple computers to wirelessly share a single high-speed Internet connection and printer.

Sales up, earnings down for Edwards

Edwards Lifesciences, the world's largest heart valve company, reported a decline in its net income for the first quarter of 2003, despite a 31% growth in sales. The Irvine, Calif.-based company reported net income of $14.5 million and earnings per share of 24 cents for the first quarter, compared with $20.8 million, or 34 cents a share, during the same period last year.

Edwards Lifesciences attributed the decline to an $11.8 million charge for continuing research and to development expenses related to the $20 million acquisition of cardiovascular business in Japan it had been operating as a joint venture with Baxter International Inc. Without the charge, the company says its net income for the quarter would have been $25.1 million, or 41 cents a share.

MedImmune completes turnaround

What started as a $1.1 billion loss during the first quarter of 2002 for MedImmune Inc. turned into a record gain of $109.5 million during the first quarter of 2003, thanks to the growing sales of its top product, Synagis (palivizumab), used for treating respiratory infections in children.

Sales of Synagis grew nearly 34%, from $293 million during the first quarter of 2002 to $392 during the same period this year. The company reported revenues grew 32% between the same periods, from $329.6 million last year to $435.9 million this year.

The turnaround was evident in net earnings as well. While the company reported a loss of $4.54 a share during the first three months of 2002, it reported earnings of 44 cents a share this year.

MedImmune, based in Gaithersburg, Md., said its prolific loss last year was due to a $1.2 billion charge related to the acquisition of MedImmune Vaccines Inc., formerly known as Aviron.

Laserscope makes gain in first quarter

Laserscope, the San Jose, Calif.-based manufacturer of medical lasers and fiber-optic devices, reported its net income for the first quarter of 2003 was $135,000, or 1 cent per share, compared with a loss of $47,000 during the first quarter of 2002. Revenues increased 32%, from $9.4 million during the first quarter a year ago to $12.5 million during the same period this year.

Laserscope products are used primarily in urology and in aesthetic markets. It is changing the name of its most widely known device from the Niagara PV to the PVP laser system. PVP, which stands for photo-selective vaporization of the prostate, is used to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia.