NEW YORK – Standard BioTools said Wednesday after the close of the market that despite challenges facing the life science tools industry, the current economic macroenvironment presents opportunities for acquiring technologies.
"The current market, with all of its operational hurdles, present a unique window for us," CEO Michael Egholm said on a conference call with investors following the release of the firm's fourth quarter and full-year 2024 financial results. "It's bringing more quality [acquisition] opportunities our way at attractive valuations."
He noted that the firm acquired antibody profiling firm Sengenics in the fourth quarter and plans to add its Krex antibody profiling to the SomaScan platform.
"Valuations are down, funding is tight, but innovation hasn't slowed. If anything, it's accelerating," he said. "Looking ahead, we have a robust pipeline with four to six strategic transactions targeted over the next two years."
As of Dec. 31, the firm had $166.7 million in cash and cash equivalents and $126.1 million in short-term investments.
The firm's fourth quarter revenues and full-year revenues both dropped 9 percent year over year.
For the three months ended Dec. 31, Standard BioTools reported pro forma revenues of $46.7 million, down 9 percent from $51.4 million in revenues in the year-ago quarter and in line with preliminary results, beating the consensus Wall Street estimate of $43.0 million. The results include revenue from SomaLogic, which the firm acquired in January 2024.
Consumables revenues were $14.7 million, up 10 percent year over year, driven by SomaScan assay kits. Instruments revenues were $8.5 million, down 25 percent year over year, driven by lower mass cytometry sales.
Services revenues were $21.6 million, down 16 percent year over year. "We are working hard to diversify our customer base to help mitigate this," Egholm said on the call. "Revenue beyond our top five accounts grew double digits year over year, a strong signal of a broadening adoption."
The company's Q4 net loss was $34.1 million, or $.09 per share, compared to a loss of $19.8 million, or $.25 per share, in Q4 2023. The number of shares used to compute net loss was 374.5 million in the quarter compared to 79.7 million in Q4 2023.
For the quarter, R&D expenses doubled to $14.1 million from $6.9 million in the year-ago quarter, while its SG&A expenses grew 76 percent to $37.6 million from $21.4 million.
Standard BioTools' full-year 2024 revenues on a pro forma basis were $175.1 million, a decline from $192.5 million in 2023 but in line with preliminary results and beating the consensus Wall Street estimate of $171.2 million.
Consumables revenues for the year were $60.1 million, up 18 percent year over year, while the firm's instrument revenues dropped 27 percent to $28.5 million. Services revenues dropped 17 percent to $81.7 million.
The company's net loss for 2024 was $184.9 million, or $.52 per share, compared to a loss of $74.7 million, or $.94 per share, in 2023. The increased loss was partly driven by a $46.0 million conversion of redeemable preferred stock and $28.0 million in transaction and integration expenses.
For the full year, R&D expenses more than doubled to $62.4 million from $25.9 million in 2023. SG&A expenses nearly doubled to $156.6 million from $87.5 million the year prior.
For fiscal year 2025, Standard BioTools expects revenues in the range of $165 million to $175 million. The firm is expecting academic spending in the Americas to drop, resulting in a "high single-digit millions [of dollars] decline to our business as well as potential impact from tariffs," CFO Alex Kim said. Collaborations and other revenue is expected to be "minimal," he added.
In Thursday morning trading on the Nasdaq, shares of Standard BioTools were down 3 percent to $1.14.