Merit Medical Systems Inc. has reported another strong financial quarter.

The South Jordan-based maker of disposable medical products, used in diagnostic procedures in disciplines such as cardiology and gastroenterology, said its revenues grew 16 percent in 2010’s second quarter.

Revenue was $74.9 million compared with $64.8 million in the same period a year earlier.

“We’ve grown our sales 16 percent for the last three quarters in a row,” Kent Stanger, Merit’s chief financial officer, said earlier this week in a conference call with securities analysts and investors. “Yet our inventory actually declined over those same three quarters.”

Merit’s net income for the second quarter, though, was $5.7 million, or 20 cents per share. That was down from $5.8 million, or 21 cents per share, recorded in the second quarter of 2009.

CEO Fred Lampropoulos pointed out the decline primarily was the result of the hiring of additional sales and marketing staff, expenses related to the proposed BioSphere acquisition and increased research and development costs.

“There is a lot of momentum. [There are] a lot of stuff [new products] in the pipeline and a lot of tired people around here who have been working very hard to take advantage of the opportunities in the marketplace,” he said.

Securities analyst Jayson Bedford, of the St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Raymond James & Associates, in a new research report, wrote that Merit is “executing well” in a challenging health-care environment plagued by revenue growth and pricing concerns.

“Given that Merit is the low-cost producer in most of its market segments, we believe the company is the beneficiary of a more cost-conscious hospital customer,” he wrote.

Bedford noted that additionally Merit is innovating, having introduced four products in the second quarter of this year. It also is increasing its research and development efforts that he said will enable the company to get additional market share.

For the six-month period ended June 30, Merit reported net income of $10.2 million, or 36 cents per share, compared with $11.4 million, or 40 cents per share, earned in 2009’s first half.

Lampropoulos said the company has received what is “essentially our incorporation” in China and anticipates it will be operational in that country within the next three weeks to a month.

“I believe that if we were to look forward a few years that it [China] is going to be a $100 million business,” he said. “There is a lot of opportunity.”

steve@sltrib.com