NEW YORK (360Dx) – OraSure Technologies reported after the close of the market on Wednesday a 29 percent year-over-year increase in first quarter revenues.
For the three-month period ended March 31, OraSure's revenues climbed to $42.0 million from $32.5 million the year before, beating analysts' average estimate of $40.6 million.
Contributing to the revenue growth was a nearly 34 percent jump in sales of the company's OraQuick HIV testing products — primarily its HIV self-test — to $10.7 million from $8.0 million. This increase was partially offset by an 62 percent decline in OraQuick HCV testing products to $2.3 million from $6.1 million, which was attributed to the non-renewal of a foreign government contract supply contract that had generated $2.8 million in sales in Q1 2017. Molecular collection systems revenues, meanwhile, rose 72 percent in the quarter to $18.4 million from $10.7 million.
OraSure's first quarter R&D spending rose 37 percent to $4.1 million from $3.0 million, in part reflecting the development of the company's Ebola and Zika virus products, while SG&A costs were up nearly 50 percent to $20.9 million from $14.0 million amid higher staffing and consulting costs.
The Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.-based company posted a Q1 net loss of $2.1 million, or $.03 per share, versus earnings of $12.4 million, or $.21 per share, in the same period last year, beating the consensus Wall Street estimate of a $.06 loss per share.
Contributing to the loss was $6.4 million in transition costs associated with the retirement of OraSure's CEO and CFO and the hiring of their successors, the company said. Additionally, it recorded a one-time gain of $12.5 million in the first quarter of 2017 associated with the settlement of litigation between subsidiary DNA Genotek and Ancestry.com.
OraSure finished the first quarter with $64.1 million in cash and cash equivalents, and $79.4 million in short-term investments
Looking ahead, OraSure said it anticipates its second quarter revenues to be in the range of $42 million to $42.5 million, with net earnings of $.03 per share.