This article has been updated from a previous version to include comments made by Qiagen CEO Peer Schatz during an earnings call.
NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Qiagen reported after the close of the market on Monday that its third quarter revenues grew 4 percent year over year.
For the three months ended Sept. 30, Qiagen posted revenues of $377.9 million compared to $364.0 million a year ago, falling short of the consensus Wall Street estimate of $381.1 million. On an adjusted basis and at constant exchange rates (CER), Q3 revenues rose nearly 7 percent.
Consumables sales, representing about 88 percent of total sales, grew 6 percent at CER to about $331.0 million, while instrument sales grew 11 percent at CER to $46.0 million.
By customer class, revenues from molecular diagnostics — representing half of the company's total sales — grew 9 percent at CER to $189.0 million, bolstered by 14 percent year-over-year growth for Qiagen's QuantiFeron-TB test, as well as gains in companion diagnostic co-development deals and consumables for the QiaSymphony automation platform.
"We are advancing our sample-to-insight portfolio to address opportunities across the continuum from basic life sciences research to routine clinical healthcare," Qiagen CEO Peer Schatz said during an earnings call on Tuesday. "Among the highlights, sales of the QuantiFeron TB test grew at a solid mid-teen CER rate exceeding the target we had set for QuantiFeron growth."
He noted that "a key development" in Q3 regarding QuantiFeron was the European launch of Qiagen's strategic collaboration with DiaSorin and the new automation option for customers to use DiaSorin's Liaison system for test readout. "We believe this partnership, along with the new pre-analytical workflow with Hamilton, will enhance growth and give us additional confidence in achieving our 2020 target of more than $300 million in annual sales," Schatz said.
Also during the quarter, Qiagen gained rights from NeuMoDx to a scalable platform technology for molecular testing and began commercializing the NeuMoDx 288 (high-throughput) and NeuMoDx 96 (mid-throughput) versions in Europe and other ex-US markets. The companies have also entered into an agreement under which Qiagen can acquire all remaining shares of NeuMoDx for $234 million between mid-2019 and mid-2020, subject to regulatory and operational milestones.
In other customer classes, applied testing revenues grew 1 percent at CER to $35.0 million; pharma revenues increased 5 percent at CER to $71.0 million; and academia revenues grew 5 percent at CER to $83.0 million.
Qiagen's Q3 net income grew to $60.3 million, or $.26 per share, from $48.5 million, or $.21 per share, a year ago. Adjusted EPS was $.35, beating the Wall Street estimate for EPS of $.33.
Qiagen's R&D spending in Q3 increased about 10 percent to $42.0 million from $38.3 million in Q3 2017. Its SG&A expenses fell a fraction of a percent to $128.4 million from $128.6 million.
Qiagen finished the quarter with $599.8 million in cash and cash equivalents, and $320.9 million in short-term investments.
The company reaffirmed its guidance for full-year sales growth of 6 percent to 7 percent at CER, but raised its guidance for adjusted EPS of $1.33 to $1.34 at CER from a previous guidance of $1.31 to $1.33 at CER. Analysts on average are expecting full-year EPS of $1.30.
Qiagen said the sales outlook includes anticipated sales of about $7 million during the second half of 2018 from the acquisition of Stat-Dx, completed in April, as well as about one percentage point of headwind from declining US HPV test sales.
For Q4, Qiagen is expecting sales growth of 6 to 7 percent at CER, which includes about $5 million of sales from QiaStat-Dx. Adjusted diluted EPS is expected to be $.39 to $.40. Analysts are expecting EPS of $.42 for the fourth quarter.
Shares of Qiagen were up about 5 percent to $35.22 in mid-morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.