NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Luminex reported after the close of the market Monday a 2 percent rise in its first quarter revenues, an increase helped by a 17 percent jump in assay revenues.
For the three-month period ended March 31, Luminex's revenues rose to $57.7 million from $56.6 million in the same period a year earlier, topping Wall Street analysts' average estimate of $56.5 million.
First quarter revenues from assays jumped to $25.4 million from $21.7 million the year before, with infectious disease assays accounting for 64 percent and genetic testing assays 36 percent of total assay sales.
Sales of consumables fell to $9.9 million from $12.8 million, while system sales slipped to $6 million from $6.4 million in Q1 2014.
During a conference call following the release of the results, Luminex CFO Harriss Currie noted that the 22 percent drop in consumables revenues were primarily due to a $4 million decrease in orders by the company's largest partner, One Lambda, compared with last year. Luminex officials added that there were 16 bulk purchases of consumables during Q1, which generated $7.2 million, or 73 percent, of total consumables sales.
The company also shipped 193 multiplex analyzers during the quarter, including 86 Magpix systems, 91 LX systems, and 16 Flexmap 3D systems, though systems revenues were down 7 percent overall.
"As a reminder, the first quarter of each year is typically our lightest placement quarter anyway," Currie said during the call. He added that although Q1 system shipments were lower than the company's historical quarterly range, Luminex continues to expect to place 200 to 250 systems in Q2.
Luminex's Q1 net income was $7.5 million, or $.18 per share, up from $6 million, or $.14 a share, last year. The firm's non-GAAP EPS was $.23 per share, beating the average Wall Street estimate of $.12 per share.
During the first quarter, Luminex's research and development expenses dipped to $10.1 million from $11.1 million last year, while SG&A costs inched up to $19.5 million from $19.4 million.
At the end of the quarter, the company had cash and cash equivalents of $94.9 million.
Luminex said that it continues to expect full-year 2015 revenues to be between $230 million of $236 million, and that second quarter revenues will be in the range of $56 million to $58 million.
Currie added that the firm expects its annual revenues to be above the midpoint of its guidance range given the slower than expected transition of Laboratory Corporation of America away from using Luminex's xTAG assay for cystic fibrosis testing to a next-generation sequencing technology.
Luminex President and CEO Nachum Shamir said during the call that LabCorp has recently said it intends to continue using the company's CF product at least through 2015. Currie added that LabCorp — Luminex's largest customer — has not indicated that it plans to make similar changes elsewhere, "so we're pretty comfortable with the remaining portfolio of business that we have with them."