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Luminex Q3 Revenues Up 18 Percent

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Luminex reported after the close of the market on Monday that its third quarter revenues rose 18 percent, driven by the company's molecular business, which now includes Nanosphere.

For the quarter ended Sept. 30, the molecular diagnostics company reported revenues of $71.2 million, up from $60.6 million in the year-ago quarter, and beating the average Wall Street estimate for revenues of $68.6 million.

"We are pleased to report another quarter of record revenue, driven by our molecular business, which now includes Nanosphere. We are encouraged by Nanosphere's momentum, especially considering that integration, training and cross-selling initiatives are in the early stages," said Luminex President and CEO Homi Shamir in a statement. "Leveraging its leadership position in molecular testing, Luminex is expanding its product offerings and is now the only company able to provide low- and high-plex, targeted and syndromic molecular testing solutions to microbiology and molecular diagnostic labs."

Assay revenues rose 32 percent to $32.4 million from $24.6 million, system sales rose 9 percent to $10.5 million from $9.6 million, consumables sales rose 12 percent to $12.3 million from $10.9 million a year ago, and royalty revenues rose 8 percent to $11.1 million from $10.2 million. The company also said other revenues dipped 5 percent to $4.9 million from $5.2 million a year earlier.

The firm added that infectious disease assay sales were approximately 78 percent of total assay sales for the quarter, and genetic testing assays were 22 percent. Further, Luminex shipped 294 multiplexing analyzers during the quarter, including a combination of Magpix systems, LX systems, and Flexmap 3D systems.

On a call with analysts following the release of the earnings, Shamir highlighted the clearance the firm received in August from the US Food and Drug Administration for its Influenza A/B and Respiratory Syncytial Virus PCR-based assays on the Aries platform. He added that Luminex is seeking FDA clearance for a Group B Strep assay on the Aries.

Further, Shamir said the company is working on developing additional assays for the system, and expects to have seven or eight of them on the market by the end of 2017. Responding to an inquiry from an analyst on the call, he said this is a lower goal than the eight to 11 tests the company had planned to develop for the Aries, but that the acquisition of Nanosphere and its pipeline of tests had changed Luminex's plans somewhat.

Nanosphere, which Luminex acquired in June, contributed $7.4 million in revenues during the quarter.

Luminex reported Q3 net income fell to $2.8 million, or $.06 per share, from $6.4 million, or $.15 per share, a year earlier. On an adjusted basis, the firm reported earnings of $.21 per share, beating analyst estimates for income of $.10 per share.

The firm's R&D expenses for the quarter rose 27 percent to $12.8 million from $10.1 million a year earlier. SG&A costs rose 25 percent to $26.4 million from $21.2 million. CFO Harriss Currie said the rise in overall expenses reflects costs associated with the acquisition and integration of Nanosphere. Over time, he expects total R&D costs to fall towards the company's long-term target of 18 percent of revenues. He also noted that SG&A expenses grew only 5 percent if Nanosphere-associated costs are subtracted from the total.

The company ended the quarter with $84.1 million in cash and cash equivalents.

For 2016, the company raised its revenue guidance to $267 million to $270 million. This includes a contribution from Nanosphere of $7.5 million to $8.5 million in the fourth quarter. Analysts are expecting 2016 revenues of $265.8 million.

Currie noted that the company is well on the way to meeting its goal of placing 100 Aries systems by the end of the year. He and Shamir also said that they expect the integration of Nanosphere to be completed by Jan. 1.