This story has been undated to include comments from a call with investors.
NEW YORK – Qiagen reported after the close of the market on Wednesday that its revenues increased 5 percent year over year, or 6 percent at constant exchange rates (CER), in the third quarter, driven by growth in its clinical diagnostics business.
For the three months ended Sept. 30, Qiagen had net sales of $502 million, compared to $476 million a year ago and above the consensus Wall Street estimate of $491.7 million.
Qiagen CEO Thierry Bernard said in a statement that the firm also exceeded its quarterly goals for net sales and adjusted earnings. "We are executing quarter after quarter in this challenging macro environment on delivering sales growth combined with market share gains and operational efficiency thanks to a differentiated portfolio," Bernard said.
Overall, Qiagen's diagnostic solutions revenues increased 10 percent to $197 million from $179 million.
Within the diagnostics business, QuantiFeron sales increased 10 percent to $122 million from $110 million, while QiaStat-Dx sales jumped 41 percent, or 40 percent at CER, to $28 million from $20 million a year ago. Regarding Quantiferon, on a call with investors on Thursday morning, Bernard said that Q3 marked the sixth consecutive quarter of sales above $100 million.
Bernard further noted that the firm's instrumented Quantiferon assay developed and marketed in partnership with DiaSorin is adding value and increasing DiaSorin's installed base as well. "It's a successful partnership, and anytime we convert customers we can do it at a premium price," Bernard said. Quantiferon assays detect interferon gamma cytokines released from T-cells in blood samples following stimulation by a pathogen peptide antigen, and the partners are currently awaiting a decision from the US Food and Drug Administration on an instrumented Lyme disease test using the Quantiferon technology that is expected to launch in 2025.
Placements of QiaStat-Dx systems were "robust" in the recently completed quarter, Qiagen said, and remain on track to achieve the 2024 goal of at least 600 new systems placed. The firm also received clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration for four QiaStat-Dx panels to date in 2024, including its Meningitis/Encephalitis Panel, Gastrointestinal Panel 2, Respiratory Panel Plus, and Respiratory Panel Mini.
Bernard specified on the call that Qiagen placed 150 QiaStat-Dx systems in the third quarter and reiterated the firm's ambition of $200 million in QiaStat-Dx annual revenues by 2028. Qiagen expects to launch the QiaStat-Dx Rise high-throughput instrument in the US once it obtains FDA clearance, as well as syndromic assays to detect sepsis from positive blood cultures, complicated urinary tract infections, and pneumonia.
Sales of NeuMoDx products, meanwhile, dropped to $7 million from $8 million. Qiagen announced in June that it would discontinue NeuMoDx and support customers during a transition period into 2025. The firm plans to officially close NeuMoDx's Ann Arbor, Michigan facility in Q2 of 2025, Bernard said on the call.
Sales for the PCR and nucleic acid amplification product group increased 9 percent to $74 million from $68 million. The firm said that QiAcuity digital PCR consumables sales rose at a double-digit CER pace supported by the launch of new assays, but instrument sales also declined at a double-digit CER rate compared to Q3 2023 due to a cautious instrument purchasing environment.
Sales in the genomics and next-generation sequencing business were flat at $55 million, with single-digit CER growth in NGS consumables offset by a low-single-digit CER decline in Qiagen Digital Insights (QDI) bioinformatics sales. Qiagen also announced that Jonathan Sheldon, head of the QDI business and a member of the executive committee, has stepped down.
Sales in sample technologies increased slightly to $162 million from $160 million with higher consumable sales offset by a modest decline in instrument sales.
"We continue to see cautious customer spending on instruments and those sales declined 9 percent," Qiagen's Chief Financial Officer Roland Sackers said on the call, also noting that instrument sales were flat sequentially.
In the quarter, Qiagen established new collaborations with AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly to develop companion diagnostics for chronic disease therapies and a APOE genotyping assay, respectively, for the QiaStat-Dx system.
The firm launched the QiAcuityDx digital PCR system in the quarter and expanded the assay portfolio for its legacy QiAcuity system with the addition of more than 100 new assays for cancer research, genetic disorders, and infectious diseases. It also launched the PAXgene Urine Liquid Biopsy Set for cell-free DNA collection from urine — developed under a long-standing a joint venture with Becton Dickinson — and filed a patent lawsuit against Zymo Research over intellectual property related to magnetic bead-based sample preparation of extracellular nucleic acids from cell-free or cell-depleted samples.
Qiagen reported Q3 net income of $98.1 million, or $.44 per share, compared to $77.8 million, or $.34 per share, in Q3 a year ago. Adjusted EPS was $.57, above analysts' average estimate for adjusted EPS of $.54 per share.
Qiagen reaffirmed its guidance for at least $1.99 billion in full year 2024 net sales based on solid core business trends, and also increased its adjusted diluted EPS outlook to at least $2.19 from $2.16. For Q4, Qiagen expects net sales of at least $520 million compared to $509 million in Q4 2023 and adjusted diluted EPS of at least $.60 per share compared to $.55 in Q4 2023.
The firm finished the quarter with $973.0 million in cash and cash equivalents and $507.4 million in short-term investments.
Qiagen shares were up approximately 2 percent to $44.76 in Thursday morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.