NEW YORK – Personalis reported Thursday morning that its third quarter revenues rose 12 percent year over year.
The company recorded $22.3 million in revenue during Q3 2021 compared with $19.8 million in the same period of 2020, narrowly beating Wall Street analysts' consensus estimate of $22.2 million.
Personalis said that revenue from its contract to provide sequencing for the Department of Veterans Affairs Million Veteran Program dropped about 3 percent to $13.7 million from $14.1 million in Q3 2020.
Revenues from its biopharma and other non-VA customers, meanwhile, reached a record $8.6 million, compared with $5.7 million in the third quarter of 2020, a 51 percent increase. In documents filed with the US Securities and Exchange commission, Personalis reported that this $2.9 million increase was primarily due to a $2.3 million rise in revenue from Natera under the companies' MRD collaboration agreement.
The company also said it received record new orders from non-VA customers during the quarter, valued at approximately triple the revenue it reported in Q3. On a call discussing the firm's quarterly results, CEO John West said that this new-orders-to-revenue ratio has led to renewed confidence in the firm's future growth.
Personalis CFO Aaron Tachibana added that the company had updated its fourth quarter and full-year guidance. The firm now expects Q4 revenue between $20.2 and $20.4 million, of which $12.5 to $14.5 million should come from non-VA customers, representing a year-over-year growth rate of approximately 77 percent at the midpoint, Tachibana said.
For the full year, the company currently expects total revenue of approximately $85 million. Biopharma/non-VA revenues are anticipated to be in the range of $37 million to $39 million, up from a prior guidance of $34 million to $35 million.
West said the firm had long expected the oncology business to overtake its population sequencing business. "The way that this has played out … the order we received from the VA was lower than we had thought was possible for this year. On the other hand, the orders from the pharma side have been almost a tidal wave," he said. "The two … offset each other to some extent, so I think we're basically just turning that corner sooner than we thought we would, and actually, that's a good place to be."
Among other recent milestones, West highlighted Personalis' deal with the Mayo Clinic to provide clinical testing for cancer patients using its NeXT platform, marking a turning point for the company in shifting from research to clinical test provision.
Looking ahead the firm is now focused on enhancing its clinical, regulatory, and reimbursement capabilities as it prepares to launch NeXT Personal, its Minimal Residual Disease (MRD) offering, in December, he added.
Personalis' net loss for Q3 was $17.7 million, or $.40 per share, compared with a net loss of $9.5 million, or $.27 per share, during the year-ago quarter, beating analysts' average estimate of a $.42 loss per share. The company used 44.5 million shares to compute its net loss this quarter, versus 35.5 million in the same period last year.
Research and development expenses grew 89 percent to $13.6 million from $7.2 million in the year-ago quarter, while SG&A spending was up 55 percent at $12.1 million compared to $7.8 million in Q3 2020.
Personalis ended the quarter with $79.6 million in cash and cash equivalents and $225.7 million in short term investments.
In morning trading on the Nasdaq, shares of Personalis were up about 4 percent, at $20.80.