Wall Street Rewards Caliper Life Sciences on 22-Percent Q3 Revenue Growth

This article has been updated to include stock price.

NEW YORK, Nov. 5 (GenomeWeb News) - Shares in Caliper Life Sciences were up 4 percent to $7.02 in mid-afternoon trade after the company reported a 22-percent jump in third-quarter revenue and narrowed net losses.

Caliper said that increased interest from pharmaceutical companies in its microfluidic screening platform helped drive revenue in the period to $20.2 million from $16.5 million year over year.

The company said that during the last three months, Merck, Johnson & Johnson, and Taisho Pharmaceutical of Japanhad each purchased a LabChip 3,000 microfluidic screening system for the first time. In addition, Aventis and Pfizer recently bought additional systems, according to the company.

Caliper spent $5.3 million on R&D during the quarter, down from $8.8 million a year ago.

The company's net loss was cut in half, to $5.1 million, or $.17 per share, compared to $10.1 million, or $.37 per share, during the third quarter of 2003.

As of Sept. 30, Caliper had $6.1 million in cash and cash equivalents and $43.1 million in short-term marketable securities.