NEW YORK – NanoString Technologies reported after the close of the market on Tuesday that its fourth quarter revenues were up 17 percent year over year, while full-year revenues climbed 24 percent.
For the three months ended Dec. 31, 2021, revenues increased to $42.5 million from $36.3 million in Q4 2020, beating analysts' average estimate of $41.5 million.
"We delivered a strong finish to 2021, generating more than 70 Q4 instrument orders across GeoMx and CosMx," Brad Gray, president and CEO of NanoString, said in a statement.
Q4 product and service revenue rose 18 percent year over year to $42 million from $35.7 million, on the upper end of the firm's Q4 guidance range. Collaboration revenue fell 18 percent to $448,000 from $548,000 in Q4 of 2020.
Instrument revenues totaled $17.6 million in Q4, up 15 percent from $15.3 million during the year-ago period. Revenues from GeoMx Digital Spatial Profiler sales were $11.9 million, resulting from approximately 50 instruments shipped, a 27 percent year-over-year increase. Revenues from nCounter instrument sales were $5.7 million, a 5 percent year-over-year decline.
Consumables revenues amounted to $19.9 million in Q4, up 20 percent from $16.6 million in the year-ago quarter. These included $6.1 million from GeoMx DSP consumables, more than double the amount of Q4 2020, and $13.8 million from nCounter consumables, flat from Q4 2020.
Services revenues grew 21 percent in Q4 to $4.6 million from $3.8 million a year ago, all from nCounter services.
The installed instrument base grew to 255 GeoMx DSP systems and to 1,050 nCounter Analysis systems as of Dec. 31.
"NCounter sales were stronger than before and returned to pre-pandemic levels for the full year," Gray said in a conference call to discuss the financial results. "This demonstrates the healthy demand for this platform, even as consumables [sales] remain oppressed relative to pre-pandemic levels."
"We also achieved several important CosMx milestones," Gray said, including publishing a preprint in BioRxiv describing the CosMx technology and performance, as well as the release of a dataset mapping nearly 1,000 RNAs in situ at single-cell resolution using formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded samples.
This year, the company plans to drive the GeoMx platform into mainstream research, launch the CosMx spatial molecular imager, and integrate both products with a cloud-based informatics portal, he said, while continuing to grow sales of the nCounter platform.
NanoString's net loss for Q4 was $29.3 million, or $.64 per share, compared with a net loss of $23.0 million, or $.53 per share, a year ago. On average, analysts had been expecting a Q4 net loss of $.59 per share.
The company's Q4 R&D spending jumped 25 percent to $18.2 million from $14.6 million a year ago, primarily driven by GeoMx and CosMx development activities, including investments in software and technology to support data storage for analysis across spatial biology.
Its SG&A spending in Q4 rose 32 percent to $31.6 million from $24.0 million, mainly due to investments made in spatial biology-related virtual initiatives, including expansion of the company's sales force and customer support groups, as well as costs related to licensing and implementation of new information technology solutions.
For full-year 2021, NanoString's revenues were up 24 percent to $145.1 million from $117.3 million in 2020, beating the Wall Street consensus estimate of $144 million.
Product and service revenues were $144.0 million, a 29 percent year-over-year growth compared to $111.4 million the year before. Collaboration revenues were $1.1 million, down 81 percent from $5.9 million in 2020.
Instrument revenues were up 16 percent to $55.6 million from $47.8 million the year before, including $34.8 million in GeoMx revenue, a 17 percent year-over-year increase, and $20.8 million in nCounter revenue, 14 percent more than in 2020.
Consumables revenues rose 43 percent for the full year to $71.8 million from $50.1 million in 2020, including $17.1 million from GeoMx consumables, a 226 percent jump, and $54.8 million from nCounter, a 22 percent increase.
Service revenues rose 22 percent to $16.5 million in 2021 from $13.5 million in 2020.
NanoString's 2021 net loss was $115.3 million, or $2.54 per share, compared to a net loss of $110.1 million, or $2.82 per share, in 2020. On average, analysts had been expecting a full-year net loss of $2.51 per share.
The firm's full-year R&D spending was up 10 percent to $69.5 million from $62.9 million in 2020, and SG&A spending increased 28 percent to $115.5 million from $90.1 million.
In Wednesday morning trading on the Nasdaq, NanoString shares were up less than 1 percent to $35.82.