NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Molecular diagnostics developer Exact Sciences announced today that it plans to offer 8.5 million shares of common stock for sale at $15.50 a share.
The company — which earlier this week said it would offer 7 million shares but raised the amount of the offering because of market demand — said it will use the proceeds for general corporate and working capital purposes, to fund the development of new products, and to fund the commercialization of its Cologuard colorectal cancer test.
Exact reported on Tuesday that its second quarter revenues more than doubled year over year thanks to a 160 percent increase in the number of Cologuard tests completed during the quarter. On a call with analysts after the release of the results, Chairman and CEO Kevin Conroy said the company has seen "significant commercial progress in Q2" thanks in part to the television commercial campaign it ran for Cologuard during the quarter. Visits to the company's website in Q2 were up significantly, he noted, as were downloads of documents such as physician order forms. Conroy added he expects the growth to continue throughout the year, and that the company has reinitiated the campaign, expecting it to be on and off the air strategically throughout the rest of 2016.
For the new public offering, the company has also granted the underwriters an option to purchase up to 1.3 million additional shares. The offering is being underwritten by Jefferies and Robert W. Baird as joint book-running managers of the offering, and Canaccord Genuity as co-manager of the offering. It is expected to close on or about August 2.