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MiMedx Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: MDXG), the leading regenerative medicine company utilizing human amniotic tissue and patent protected processes to develop and market advanced products and therapies for the Wound Care, Surgical, Orthopedic, Spine, Sports Medicine, Ophthalmic and Dental sectors of healthcare, announced that MiMedx management has responded to numerous questions relative to its second quarter report. From the Company's standpoint, these questions have already been addressed after first and second quarter conference calls. However, there has been some misinterpretation and misinformation since this quarter's press release and conference call which the Company seeks to clarify.
Second quarter revenue of $45.7 million grew almost 80%, which was above analyst consensus and only $321,000 below the Company's high end guidance. While the Company has often exceeded its guidance over the last three years, there have been a number of quarters where the revenue was in the upper end of the range as it was this quarter.
Over the last three years, the Company has, from time to time, raised its annual revenue forecast with its quarterly reports. The Company has not raised the revenue forecast after the first or second quarter of this year, primarily because it is rapidly building its surgical sales force which includes certain structural changes in the sales organization. Any time structural changes are made, sales efficiencies need time to redevelop. Management is prudently watching sales force efficiencies and effectiveness while they undergo these changes and is waiting for this additional data prior to changing its annual revenue forecast.
There have been some questions relative to the Company's reducing its operating profit goal from 15% of revenues for the 2015 year to a range of 12% to 14%. When the 15% goal was provided to shareholders, the Company also made the caveat that it would consider opportunities for effective investments that could reduce that percentage. That is exactly what has happened in terms of some new opportunities in the surgical area. The Company's investment in opportunities of this nature has been extremely effective in the past and is expected to be so in the future. Therefore, these investments in the surgical area will potentially reduce operating profit margins in the third and fourth quarters while adding to future revenue growth. Consequently, management reduced operating profit margin expectations in the near term to account for the surgical area opportunities that will benefit the Company in the long term.
Relative to the growth of its surgical sales initiative, the Company has explained that the ramp up rate for each new surgical sales person would be different than that which has occurred with its wound care sales organization. While the length of time to achieve quota is expected to take longer than wound care, the expected revenue per surgical sales person should prove to be higher.
MiMedx results in the first half of 2015 have proven that the thesis regarding the expiration of pass-through status on the EpiFix® product line would bring dramatic drops in revenues is absolutely false. Management planned for that change for well over a year, and that issue has been managed very effectively. As should be quite evident, the expiration of pass-through status has not affected the Company's gross profit margins. This has affected the pricing per unit in our Medicare and Medicaid hospital outpatient accounts, but the Company's income statements should clearly demonstrate that those changes were readily absorbed.
The Company has conveyed the fact that the opportunities for its platform technology are still intact and growing. It has managed all of the matters that have come up as a result of competitive issues and related interference with its business. The Company readily acknowledges the significant short positions in its shares and the presumably huge losses the short sellers have incurred. The ultimate resolution of those issues will occur as a result of the Company's continued exceptional performance related to revenue growth and profitability.
The Company also has noted that the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations has initiated an inquiry into the FDA's practices related to issuance of Untitled Letters and use of Guidance Documents to change rules and policies. The practices being investigated by the House Subcommittee are similar to those experienced by the Company in relation to its 2013 Untitled Letter concerning its micronized product line. The Company has stated it will continue to follow this issue and will keep shareholders informed of developments in this area.
Parker H. "Pete" Petit, Chairman and CEO commented, "A bull market climbs a 'wall of worry' as do well-performing corporate stocks. We seem to have more worries being highlighted than normal this quarter. However, our analysts and shareholders should be used to those issues by now. We are an exceptionally well-run business entity, and we believe we will continue to provide our shareholders excellent returns in the periods ahead. We have gone from an unknown to the respected leader in advanced wound care in about four years. We expect to perform in a similar manner in certain areas of surgery and sports medicine in the years ahead. While our growth rate percentages will necessarily drop as our revenue base increases, we are still providing a very exceptional growth profile through a platform technology with significant patent protection. Those are certainly fundamentals of a well-run and promising business entity. We appreciate our shareholders' confidence in management, and I would encourage everyone to be inquisitive but also remember our historical performance."