NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Luminex reported after the close of the market on Monday that its first quarter revenues rose 23 percent, driven in part by sales of its Nanosphere Verigene molecular products, which rose 59 percent over the prior-year quarter to $10.5 million.
For the three months ended March 31, the firm reported revenues of $77.8million, up from $63.0 million a year ago, and beating the consensus Wall Street estimate of $74.2 million.
Systems revenues rose 2 percent to $8.5 million from $8.3 million a year ago. Revenues from consumables rose 30 percent to $15.4 million from $11.9 million in Q1 2016. Royalties revenues rose 1 percent to $11.6 million from $11.5 million in the year-ago quarter, and assays revenues rose 38 percent to $37.4 million from $27.0 million. Infectious disease sales made up about 82 percent of the firm’s first quarter assay revenues, and genetic testing assays made up the remaining 18 percent of those revenues. All other revenues rose 14 percent to $4.9 million from $4.3 million in Q1 2016.
On a conference call with analysts following the release of its financial results, Luminex CFO Harriss Currie said that 7 percent of Luminex's 23 percent year over year growth in Q1 was organic, and that 16 percent could be directly attributed to the acquisition of Nanosphere.
The firm's molecular diagnostics group grew by 39 percent, "supported by growth of our automated solutions Verigene and Aries, which contributed 36 percentage points of total growth," he added.
Luminex said it shipped 242 multiplexing analyzers during the quarter.
"Our partner business, which we now call the Licensed Technologies Group, grew 10 percent year over year, and our portfolio of automated molecular sample-to-answer solutions grew more than 65 percent on a pro-forma basis," Luminex President and CEO Homi Shamir said in a statement. He also said that he believed that the Nanosphere acquisition will be accretive earlier than originally anticipated.
On the conference call, Shamir said the company's automated sample-to-answer solution "generated revenue of approximately $11 million in the first quarter," representing almost 70 percent growth from $6.5 million in the prior-year period.
"We are firmly on track to reach our $45 million revenue target for this product line," he added. "This product line should continue to expand aggressively for the next few years, due to the market's continued adoption of the Verigene and Aries platforms, and the expanding portfolio of both syndromic and targeted panels."
He also noted that Luminex believes its partner business will continue to grow at a rate of 6 percent to 8 percent a year during 2017 and beyond.
The company reported net income rose to $9.1 million from $8.8 million a year earlier. Earnings per share stayed flat at $.21. On an adjusted basis, the firm reported net income of $.28 per share, beating analysts' average estimate for EPS of $.07.
The firm’s Q1 R&D costs rose 13 percent to $12.4 million from $11.0 million in Q1 2016, and its SG&A costs rose 18 percent to $24.0 million from $20.4 million.
Luminex ended the quarter with $86.5 million in cash and cash equivalents.
Luminex raised its 2017 annual revenue guidance to between $300 million and $310 million, up from between $295 million and $305 million. Analysts, on average, expect revenues of $316.6 million for the year. Shamir noted that the company has raised its guidance to reflect the "excellent results and the improved outlook for both our CF and automated system product lines."
The company expects second quarter 2017 revenue to be between $74 million and $76 million. Analysts are expecting Q2 revenues of $75.0 million.
In a note to investors on Monday, William Blair analyst Brian Weinstein wrote that Nanosphere revenues were "in line with our estimate," and that Luminex's legacy business likely had a roughly $3 million benefit from timing related to consumables ordered by Thermo Fisher Scientific.
Luminex's shares rose 8 percent to $20.46 in Tuesday morning trading on the Nasdaq.