NEW YORK — Synthetic biology firm Ginkgo Bioworks on Tuesday reported a 21 percent drop in third quarter recurring revenues to $44 million from $55 million the year before, falling just shy of Wall Street expectations.
Total revenues for the quarter were $89.0 million, up 61 percent from $55.4 million in Q3 of 2023, and included $45 million in non-cash deferred revenue that was released to Ginkgo following the mutual termination of its alliance with Motif FoodWorks, a now-defunct food technology firm. Analysts had, on average, expected Ginkgo to report Q3 revenues of $45 million.
Contributing to the revenue shortfall was a 19 percent decline in third quarter cell engineering revenues to $30 million from $37 million in the year-ago quarter, which Ginkgo attributed to its shift from early-stage customers to large and enterprise customers. A recent restructuring, which included a 35 percent workforce reduction, also negatively affected cell engineering revenues, the Boston-based company said.
Meantime, Q3 revenues generated by Ginkgo's biosecurity operations slid 24 percent to $14.0 million from $18.3 million the year before amid an ongoing reduction in K-12 COVID-19 testing.
Ginkgo's third quarter net loss shrank to $56.4 million, or $1.08 per share, from a year-ago loss of $302.9 million, or $6.21 per share, beating the Wall Street consensus loss-per-share estimate of $2.72.
The company's R&D spending in the third quarter contracted 51 percent to $77.0 million from $156.7 million year over year, while general and administrative costs fell 36 percent to $52.3 million from $82.0 million.
In addition to the recent layoffs, Ginkgo said it is cutting costs by closing several facilities in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Europe this year.
At the end of September, Ginkgo had cash and cash equivalents totaling $616.2 million.
Looking ahead, Ginkgo raised its previous full-year 2024 revenue guidance to $215 million to $235 million from a prior range of $170 million to $190 million in order to reflect the $45 million non-cash deferred revenue release.
During early morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange, shares of Ginkgo were up almost 2 percent at $8.55.