NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Quanterix reported after the close of the market on Wednesday that its fourth quarter revenues fell 1 percent year-over-year.
The company posted Q4 revenues of $6.6 million, down from $6.7 million in Q4 2016 and below the consensus Wall Street estimate of $6.7 million.
Quanterix noted that the Q4 2016 figure included $1.8 million of non-recurring license revenue and that Q4 2017 revenues were up 35 percent year-over-year once that non-recurring figure was excluded.
Q4 product revenues rose 28 percent to $4.1 million in Q4 2017 from $3.2 million in Q4 2016, thanks largely to sales of consumables. This also included the sale of five of the firm's newly launched SR-X benchtop reader, Quanterix said — a launch which was more than a quarter ahead of schedule. Service and other revenues rose 35 percent to $2.3 million from $1.7 million in the prior year quarter. However, collaboration revenues fell 85 percent to $269,000 from $1.8 million in the prior-year quarter.
"2017 was an important year for Quanterix, and I am pleased to report progress on a number of pivotal focus areas," Quanterix Chairman, CEO, and President Kevin Hrusovsky said in a statement. "In our first quarter as a public company, we continued to grow revenues, scale the company for future success and make inroads launching digital biomarker technologies into neurology, oncology, and infectious disease application areas."
On a conference call following the release of the Q4 results, Hrusovsky specifically noted the launch of Quanterix's SR-X platform—a benchtop system that offers a low price point and increased multiplexing compared to the company's Simoa HD-1 Analyzer—as a key development.
He said the company launched the instrument two quarters ahead of its initial schedule and delivered "16 bookings for that instrument in Q4." He added that while demand was strong among academic labs, which are the main targets for the SR-X, the company also saw uptake among some existing pharma and biotech customers who added the platform to complement their existing HD-1 instruments.
Quanterix CFO Joseph Driscoll noted on the call that consumables sales were particularly strong in 2017, driven by increases in the company's installed instrument base, along with an increase in per instrument consumables use. He also said that pharma services revenues grew almost 60 percent in 2017 and that the category "is becoming an increasingly important part of our overall revenue."
Quanterix also highlighted its acquisition of microarrayer Aushon Biosystems, which Driscoll said it completed in late January. Hrusovsky said the long-term rationale for the acquisition is the firm's ambition around point-of-care, where he said Aushon's planar printing approach could prove useful.
"Planar printing… is a complement to the bead technology that we have, and longer term, we believe that the planar technology will lead to a much more efficient point-of-care solution which we think is a big piece of the long-term journey that we are on," he said.
Nearer term, the Aushon acquisition gives Quanterix a CLIA laboratory that Hrusovsky said the company plans to use to expand its pharma services business. "That wasn't the primary reason for the acquisition, but it was a good side benefit," he added.
The firm's Q4 net loss widened to $7.4 million from $7.3 million a year ago.
Quanterix's R&D spending during the quarter was down 42 percent to $3.9 million from $6.8 million in Q4 2016. Its SG&A expenses, meanwhile, rose 67 percent to $6.0 million from $3.6 million the year before.
For full year 2017, Quanterix's revenues rose 30 percent to $22.9 million from $17.6 million in 2016, matching the Wall Street consensus and at the high end of the firm's previously provided guidance of $22.5 million to $22.9 million. Excluding the 2016 non-recurring revenue recognized in connection with a license, revenue growth was 45 percent for the year.
Product revenues rose 33 percent to $14.1 million in 2017 from $10.6 million in 2016, while service and other revenues rose 54 percent to $7.7 million from $5.0 million in 2016. Collaboration revenues fell 45 percent to $1.1 million in 2017 from $2.0 million in 2016.
Quanterix's net loss for full-year 2017 widened to $27.0 million from $23.2 million in 2016.
The firm's full-year R&D spending was down 4 percent to $16.3 million from $17.0 million in 2016. Its SG&A spending rose 58 percent to $19.7 million from $12.5 million the year before.
The company ended the year with $79.7 million in cash. Quanterix received $73.7 million in gross proceeds from its December 2017 initial public offering in which it sold more than 4.9 million shares at $15 per share.
Quanterix's shares fell fractionally to $20.56 in Thursday morning trading on the Nasdaq.