NEW YORK – Fulgent Genetics reported after the close of the market on Tuesday that its third quarter revenues rose 124 percent year over year, primarily driven by sales of its COVID-19 tests.
For the three-month period ended Sept. 30, the Temple City, California-based company posted revenues of $227.9 million compared to $101.7 million a year ago.
Fulgent said that the number of billable tests delivered in the quarter grew to approximately 2.2 million, up from 1.04 million in Q3 2020. Excluding COVID-related testing, the firm's core revenues increased almost fourfold, to $40.1 million.
Fulgent's third quarter results significantly exceeded the firm's quarterly guidance for both core and COVID-19 revenues, Ming Hsieh, chairman and CEO, said in a statement.
"We remain optimistic that our differentiated approach to the genomic testing market positions us well for continued momentum," he added.
On a call with investors after the earnings were reported, Hsieh said the firm's core business was positively impacted by growth in its next-generation sequencing business as well as by its recent acquisition of cancer testing lab CSI Laboratories and by its investment earlier this year in FF Gene Biotech, a joint venture in China.
Core revenue growth was also impacted by Delta surge-related utilization of SARS-CoV-2 virus sequencing services as part of Fulgent's contract with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Paul Kim, the firm's CFO, said that excluding the CDC revenues, the Fulgent's core business grew by more than 160 percent year over year.
Brandon Perthuis, Fulgent's chief commercial officer, reported that the firm "saw a big rebound in COVID testing in the third quarter, driven by the highly contagious Delta variant." Fulgent performed 2.2 million COVID-19 RT-PCR tests in the quarter, including testing to support more than 1,000 back-to-school programs.
Kim further specified that COVID-19 PCR testing accounted for $180 million of third quarter revenues, adding that this exceeded the firm's guidance by approximately $100 million.
"While demand for COVID testing remains extremely volatile, we remain well positioned to capture this demand if and when it fluctuates higher," Kim said.
Fulgent posted a net income of $122.5 million, or $3.93 per share, compared to $46.6 million, or $1.98 per share, in Q3 2020. On an adjusted basis, the company reported EPS of $4.05.
Research and development spending in the quarter almost doubled to $6.0 million from $3.2 million a year ago. The firm's SG&A costs more than doubled to $18.3 million from $8.8 million, due primarily to general and administrative spending more than tripling.
Fulgent finished the third quarter with $214.9 million in cash and cash equivalents and $662.4 million in marketable securities.
In the fourth quarter of 2021, the company expects to generate revenues of approximately $189 million, with core revenues of approximately $32 million. For full-year 2021, it expects revenue of $930 million, up from its previous guidance of $800 million.
At a more granular level, the firm expects core NGS revenues of $95 million for the full year, consistent with previous guidance. For COVID NGS revenue from the CDC, it anticipates $20 million, up from an earlier expectation of $15 million.
In Wednesday afternoon trading on the Nasdaq, Fulgent's shares were up approximately 2 percent at $80.01.