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Systems Sales Lift Luminex's Q2 Revenues 2 Percent

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Luminex reported after the close of the market Monday that its second-quarter revenues grew 2 percent year over year, driven by a jump in instrument sales.

The Austin, Texas-based molecular diagnostics firm reported total revenues of $55.6 million for the three months ended June 30, compared to $54.3 million for the second quarter of 2012. It was slightly below analysts' consensus estimate for revenues of $55.9 million.

Luminex said that its systems sales rose 9 percent year over year to $8.3 million from $7.6 million. The company shipped 268 multiplexing analyzers, including 148 LX systems, 96 MagPix systems, and 24 FlexMap 3D systems. Its consumables sales were up 7 percent to $12.6 million from $11.8 million, and royalty revenue increased 10 percent to $9.5 million from $8.6 million, but the firm's assay revenue declined to $19.9 million from $21.7 million. All other revenues were $5.3 million, up 16 percent from $4.6 million in Q2 2013.

Luminex President and CEO Patrick Balthrop said in a statement that the firm was "pleased with the relative performance of our assay business when compared with the same quarter in 2013, which included substantial non-recurring assay revenue."

On an earnings call following the release of the results, he attributed the decline in assay revenue to the loss of sales to Natural Molecular Testing (NMTC), a major Luminex customer that filed for bankruptcy during the third quarter of last year.

Adjusting for the NMTC-related assay sales, Balthrop claimed that the firm's Q2 assay revenues would have been 6 percent for the quarter.

Luminex posted net income of $4.7 million, or $.11 per share, for the quarter, compared to $3.7 million, or $.09 per share, for Q2 2013. On a non-GAAP basis, its net income was $8.5 million, or $.20 per share, compared to $7.1 million, or $.17 per share, and beating analysts' consensus estimate of $.10 per share.

The firm's R&D spending for the quarter fell 4 percent to $11.3 million from $11.8 million, while its SG&A expenses inched up 3 percent to $20.9 million from $20.2 million.

On the call, CFO Harriss Currie said the drop in R&D sales reflected the progress the firm has made in preparing its Aries RT-PCR-based molecular diagnostics platform ahead of anticipated launches in Europe later this year and in the US in early 2015.

Luminex finished the quarter with $86.7 million in cash and cash equivalents, and $3 million in short-term investments.

The firm reaffirmed its full-year 2014 revenue guidance of $225 million to $240 million.

In Tuesday morning trade on the Nasdaq, shares of Luminex jumped 10 percent to $19.27.

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