NEW YORK – 10x Genomics said on Thursday that it is raising its full year 2023 revenue guidance based on a strong quarter for its spatial biology instruments, especially Xenium.
The firm now expects revenue in the range of $610 million to $625 million, representing 18 percent to 21 percent growth over full year 2022. Previously, the firm had expected revenue in the range of $600 million to $620 million.
The new projections were helped by a 17 percent year-over-year increase in third quarter revenues, also driven by Xenium sales. For the three months ended Sept. 30, the Pleasanton, California-based single-cell and spatial technologies firm reported $153.6 million in total revenues compared to $131.1 million in in Q3 2022, beating the average Wall Street estimate of $151.3 million.
Instrument revenues were up 67 percent at $34.9 million, up from $20.9 million a year ago, driven by spatial instrument sales, which were up more than threefold year over year at $22.7 million. Consumables revenues were $114.4 million, up 6 percent year over year from $108.1 million.
On a conference call with investors following the release of results, 10x officials touted the market response to the Xenium instrument. CFO Justin McAnear said the performance for the product line was "exceptional" and exceeded the firm's own expectations.
Chromium revenues totaled $112.5 million, essentially flat year over year, while spatial revenues were $36.8 million.
"[Xenium's] steep adoption curve has put it on a truly special trajectory — likely among the best in life sciences tools history," CEO and Cofounder Serge Saxonov said. A 10x spokesperson later clarified that he was comparing Xenium's launch to that of Illumina's Genome Analyzer. During the Q&A portion of the call, he said 10x sold more than 80 instruments in Q3 and that its backlog has increased. That's up from about 50 in Q2 2023.
He suggested it has differed from the "typical launch … in this industry where you get some early adoption and then kind of a wave and then [you] see what happens after that," he said. "You do have to assume that there is some amount of initial pent-up demand, but overlaid on top of that, we're seeing a great sustained trajectory of customers seeing the results from the data and coming back to us and ordering more instruments and thinking of more studies and thinking of larger and larger applications."
He also pointed to the recent release of the first customer-produced Xenium data, as part of an October BioRxiv preprint from researchers at Duke University.
Saxonov noted that the firm launched three new targeted gene panels for Xenium and a 480-plex fully custom gene panel. "With well over half of our panel orders containing some level of customization, we also launched the Xenium Panel Designer, a self-service website that makes it easier for researchers to design custom panels to answer their specific research questions," he said.
The fact that 10x raised its 2023 guidance "implies Xenium demand is truly unprecedented," Canaccord Genuity Analyst Kyle Mikson wrote in a Friday note to investors.
10x now seeks to keep up its momentum and announced several new products and features for Xenium. In early 2024, 10x plans to launch a new cell segmentation capability that's multi-modal and includes both cell interior and membrane stains. Mid-year, the firm plans to launch 5,000-plex gene panels for mouse and human tissues "that run in days, not weeks," he said. "We're also developing an in-line, high-plex protein assay to combine with the RNA assays on the exact same tissue section, which we also intend to introduce next year. This will extend existing protein capabilities on Xenium beyond immunofluorescence-based measurements."
Saxonov also teased progress on the Visium HD product, a high-resolution, whole-transcriptome assay. "Our recent momentum has been driven in part by an acquisition we made earlier this year to accelerate the scaling manufacturing of Visium HD," he said.
10x recognized a $41.4 million "in-process research and development expense related to an agreement to acquire certain intangible and other assets earlier this year."
According to filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, 10x paid $10 million up front related to the IP license. In July, the firm paid $10 million upon the close of the transaction and another $10 million in additional cash consideration. "Up to $26.3 million of additional cash consideration is due if certain technology development milestones are met," the firm wrote.
10x's service revenues were $4.3 million, more than double the $2.1 million from Q3 2022.
By region, revenues from the Americas were $99.0 million, up 28 percent from $77.6 million in the prior year period, driven by sales in the US. Europe, Middle East, and Africa revenues were up 15 percent at $32.0 million from $27.9 million. Revenues from Asia-Pacific were $22.6 million, down 12 percent from $25.6 million a year ago, driven by weakness in China.
The company's net loss for the quarter ballooned to $93.0 million, or $.79 per share, compared to a loss of $41.9 million, or $.37 per share in Q3 2022, missing the consensus Wall Street estimate of a $.46 loss per share.
The firm's R&D expenses fell slightly to $66.5 million from $67.3 million a year ago.
10x's SG&A expenses grew 12 percent to $82.4 million from $73.4 million in Q3 2022, driven by outside legal fees and personnel costs.
As of Sept. 30, 10x Genomics had $311.3 million in cash and cash equivalents and $45.6 million in marketable securities.
In Friday morning trading on the Nasdaq, 10x Genomics shares were up 8 percent to $39.29.