Cepheid Posts Increased Revenue, Widened Loss in Q4

NEW YORK, Feb. 5 - Cepheid on Tuesday posted increased revenues and a significantly widened loss for the fourth quarter 2001.

For the three months ended Dec. 31, the company reported revenues of $3.2 million, compared with $2.6 million in the same period one year ago. Cepheid said the increase was due to a jump in sales of its Smart Cycler DNA analysis systems: the company said it sold $2.9 million of the units in the fourth quarter of 2001 compared with $1.8 million in the year-ago period.

Cepheid also said that net losses widened to $4.2 million, or $.16 a share in the fourth quarter of 2001, compared with $3.2 million, or $.12 a share one year ago. R&D spending increased roughly $470,000 year-over-year to nearly $4 million.

Cepheid said it has roughly $25.3 million in the bank and plans to burn an average of $1.5 million a month during the new year.

Its outlook for the first three months of 2002 calls for product sales to remain flat at between $2.5 million and $2.9 million, and for its per-share net loss to grow to between $.19 and $.20.

Shares in the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company dipped $.16, or nearly 5 percent, to close at $3.06 in Nasdaq trading on Tuesday.