LeMaitre Vascular, Inc. (NASDAQ:LMAT) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Michael Petusky: What Warren Buffett says. Alright. On artegraft, would you guys be willing to share what type of level of price increase you put through in artegraft this year?

George LeMaitre: Yes, we would be. You know what I’m sitting here going, I think it was less than it was the year. I don’t have the exact number right now. I really should. I think it was like 6% or 7%. And I think the year before, it was 12%.

Dave Roberts: I think it was 11% last year.

George LeMaitre: 11% last year. I know you didn’t ask that, but I think it was considerably reduced this year to something like 5% or 6%. I apologize for not having that number at my fingertips I should.

Dave Roberts: Directionally correct.

Michael Petusky: Okay. Alright. And J.J., I was just real curious on tax rate and then R&D related to MDR, it sounds like you guys have made some great progress in getting the filings. Does that mean that R&D sort of flattens, or is there a lot of expenses between now and the next year or so?

J.J. Pellegrino: We talk about it potentially flattening, Mike. But I would say it would be up modestly, that kind of thing. Not as €“ we are not sort of the wide eyed guys on that like we were a couple of years ago wondering what we were going to have to spend more under control, and it’s a little more reserved in terms of the increase, but still increasing a little bit. I would characterize it that way. And then on the €“ yes, the tax rate was high this quarter because our spend on product development was down a little bit this year, and so we got less of an R&D credit on that. And then there were some officers’ compensation that we were not able to deduct at the end of the year for tax purposes. So, the Q4 rate was a little higher. Going forward, you can sort of think of us as the 25%, 25.5% guys.

Michael Petusky: Alright. Great. Thanks so much guys. Appreciate it.

George LeMaitre: Thanks Mike.

Operator: Thank you. Our next question comes from Brooks O’Neil from Lake Street Capital. Your mic is now open.

Brooks O’Neil: Thank you. Good afternoon guys. It’s rare that my finger is slower than Petusky, but I guess I got on a little bit late today because I too was on another call. Just want to say, I think last quarter was the event of George’s new child coming to the world. So, I hope things are going well with your family, George, and I am glad to hear you back on the call this time. So, my question is sort of macroeconomic factors. I think last quarter, the dollar strength had a big impact on results. And you might have said this earlier in the call before I got on, but can you just give us a sense for how currency and some of the various macro factors are affecting the business, particularly outside the United States? Thanks a lot.

George LeMaitre: Brooks, I was going to €“ maybe J.J. can handle the currency stuff after I get through this little thing. But there is a couple of articles I have been reading about staffing in American hospitals. And I know you asked for international, but I think our business is kind of 67% North America now. I think we are starting to look at while the hospitals are being correctly staffed and fully staffed, and I don’t €“ it’s been a long time since we made an excuse about why sales weren’t up because of COVID and COVID staffing. But I do feel like in the last two months or three months or four months, the staffing levels have been better, and we are reporting cases are going off like they always used to go off and it’s not being slowed down because they couldn’t get a bunch of contracts, owe our staffers and to help push the beds around.