Medical device maker Iris International Inc. emerged from the recession last year, and Wall Street has taken notice.

The Chatsworth company, which makes automated equipment for testing urine and blood, has turned analysts bullish as its quarterly revenue and profit improved. Iris shares last week were up 46 percent since the beginning of the year, and the company was one of the biggest gainers in the week ended March 28 on the LABJ Stock Index, with shares up 7 percent to $13.18. (See page 26.)

Device sales suffered during the recession, as health care businesses either couldn’t obtain financing or were cautious about investments. But equipment sales at Iris rose 12 percent in the fourth quarter, which also drove the sales of the specimen containers and other disposable items Iris makes that create an ongoing revenue stream. Sales of such consumable rose 14 percent.

“I believe that Iris is better positioned than we have ever been before,” said Chief Executive Cesar Garcia, during a recent conference call with analysts, noting Iris scaled down the company’s money-losing molecular medicine testing unit. Iris took nearly $8 million in third quarter charges for the restructuring but reduced a drag on the company’s financial performance.

All five of the analysts covering the company have “buy” recommendations, with Raymond Myers at Benchmark Co. in New York City upgrading his rating from “hold” after the company’s fourth quarter report last month.

“This improvement and (management’s) view of early 2012 orders support our optimism that instrument demand has entered a sustainable recovery after the precipitous decline experienced in 2009,” Myers said in a note to clients.

Iris faces challenges, though. The company has intense competition from larger medical device companies such as Siemens and Roche, and key patents start to expire in 2017.

With a 13 percent increase in revenue to $33.1 million, Iris earned $2.9 million in the fourth quarter, a more than 500 percent improvement from the same period a year earlier. The company did report a $1.2 million net loss for the full year, largely due to impairment and restructuring costs.

“Iris’ top line has shown excellent progress over the last year in a difficult acute care spending environment, and the bottom line is improving with the restructuring of its former personalized (molecular) medicine operation,” said Ernest Andberg at Felt and Co. in Minneapolis.