This story has been updated to include comments made by NantHealth management during a conference call.
For the three months ended Sept. 30, the Culver City, California-based firm posted revenues of  $21.8 million, up from $20.7 million in the same period a year earlier. It missed the consensus Wall Street estimate of $29.2 million.
Sequencing and molecular analysis revenues rose substantially to more than $1.0 million from $77,000 a year ago. The company got a boost in Q3 from a deal with Asia Genomics to distribute GPS Cancer in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines.
On a sequential basis, NantHealth recorded a 44 percent increase in sales of its flagship GPS Cancer test to 547 in Q3 from 379 in Q2. GPS Cancer integrates whole-genome sequencing, whole-transcriptome sequencing, and quantitative proteomics to provide a molecular profile of a patient's cancer.
The company apparently expects this growth to continue, as NantHealth CEO Patrick Soon-Shiong said during a conference call Thursday that NantHealth will soon add a GPS Cancer panel for microsatellite instability. He said that this decision was the result of the US Food and Drug Administration's approval earlier this year of Merck's Keytruda (pembrolizumab) for treatment of MSI.
NantHealth also saw higher sales of its clinical decision support technology, delivered as software-as-a-service. "SaaS revenue has grown every quarter this year," Paul Holt, the company's chief financial officer, said during the call.
NantHealth posted a net loss of $42.4 million, or 37 cents per share, in the recently completed quarter, compared to a net loss of $36.9 million, or $.30 per share, in Q3 2016. On an adjusted basis, the firm had a loss per share of $.13, matching the analysts’ average estimate.
NantHealth attributed some of the loss to the payer and provider engagement assets it sold to health IT vendor Allscripts Healthcare Solutions in August. NantHealth also said in August that it would cut about 300 jobs as part of a corporate restructuring.
"The restructuring resulted in a substantial reduction in operating expenses," Soon-Shiong said.
NantHealth exited Q3 2017 with $73.5 million in cash and cash equivalents.
Friday morning, NantHealth stock opened higher. Shares were trading on the Nasdaq at $3.63 at 9:45 am Eastern time, up 4 percent from the previous close of $3.50.