NEW YORK – Bio-Techne on Wednesday announced that its fiscal third quarter revenues rose 19 percent year over year.
For the three months ended March 31, the Minneapolis-based firm's revenues grew to $290.4 million from $243.6 million, beating analysts' average estimate of $279.3 million.
The firm reported Q3 Diagnostics and Genomics segment revenues of $77.7 million, up 34 percent year over year from $58.1 million, and Protein Sciences segment revenues of $213.2 million, up 15 percent year over year from $185.6 million.
"The momentum in our core markets, especially proteomics, continues to drive double-digit growth for the company," Bio-Techne President and CEO Chuck Kummeth said in a statement. "Diagnostics also had a good quarter, with 50 percent ExoDx Prostate test volume growth, passing pre-pandemic testing levels."
During the recently completed quarter, the ExoDx Prostate test benefited from improved traffic to doctors' offices, Kummeth said on a conference call to discuss the financial results. "This improving physician office environment combined with our digital and traditional marketing initiatives, drove … year-over-year ExoDx prostate test volume growth, as testing levels represented a quarterly record," he said.
Bio-Techne noted that among the highlights of the recently completed quarter, it inked a collaboration agreement with Thermo Fisher Scientific to complete development of Bio-Techne's ExoTru Kidney transplant rejection test and commercialize the test.
Though financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed, they included ongoing royalty payments and other payments for achieving milestones, Kummeth said, adding that in Q3, Bio-Techne received the first milestone payment related to the successful transfer of technology to Thermo Fisher.
Kummeth added that in the recently completed quarter, Bio-Techne's Asuragen portfolio of carrier screening and oncology diagnostic kits continued to gain market traction.
The firm purchased Asuragen in 2021 for up to $320 million, and in Q3 the Asuragen Amplidex CFTR kit, which enables "broad coverage of the gene variants linked to cystic fibrosis," underwent numerous clinical evaluations, according to Kummeth. "We have positioned the [Asuragen] business to increase its penetration of the largely untapped European markets, adding to and leveraging our commercial presence in this geography," he said.
Meanwhile, Bio-Techne's diagnostics reagents business saw steady growth in the quarter. The return of patients to doctors' offices sparked demand for hematology, coagulation, and clinical chemistry tests that use its clinical controls and reagents, Kummeth said.
Bio-Techne posted a Q3 net income of $60.7 million, or $1.48 per share, compared to $45.8 million, or $1.12 per share, in the prior year. The firm's adjusted EPS was $2.14 and beat the analysts' average estimate of $2.00 per share.
Bio-Techne's Q3 R&D expenses rose 27 percent year over year to $21.7 million from $17.1 million, while its SG&A expenses rose 8 percent year over year to $89.3 million from $82.6 million.
At the end of Q3, Bio-Techne had cash and cash equivalents of $160.8 million and short-term available-for-sale investments of $70.4 million.
Bio-Techne on Wednesday also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.32 per share, payable May 27 to common shareholders of record on May 16.
In Wednesday morning trading on the Nasdaq, Bio-Techne shares were down less than 1 percent at $380.