NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Fluidigm said Thursday morning that its first quarter revenues increased 9 percent year over year.
For the three months ended March 31, the South San Francisco, California-based firm brought in $29 million, compared to $26.7 million in the first quarter of 2015. Total revenues beat the consensus Wall Street estimate of $27.0 million.
Instrument revenue increased 5 percent to $13.8 million, driven by sales of the Helios System and other recently launched products. Consumables revenue increased 7 percent to $11.6 million, driven by a 30 percent increase of consumables for production genomics. Product revenue from research customers increased 3 percent to $15.7 million, driven by higher instrument sales, and revenue from applied customers increased 10 percent to $9.7 million, driven by higher consumables sales. Service revenue increased 34 percent to $3.5 million, while license and grant revenue was $89,000.
"Consistent with the guidance we communicated at the beginning of the year, we saw growth in single-cell biology, production genomics consumables, and new products," Fluidigm President and CEO Gajus Worthington said on a conference call following the release of results.
Worthington also said that the Polaris instrument market is developing as early adopters are beginning to present data gathered using the instrument. And while not a major growth driver, "Biomark remains a solid contributor, with 60 percent of sales motivated by single-cell research," he said.
And last month, the firm began shipments of a new medium-cell 96-well chip that it believes significantly improves single-cell capture and reduces the doublet issue raised in the beginning of 2016. Fluidigm officials noted that it has fast-tracked development of a small-cell high-throughput IFC, expected to be available in the third quarter, prioritizing it over a new high-throughput IFC for medium cells, expected to be available in the fourth quarter.
While Worthington expressed satisfaction with first quarter results, he said that growth would be concentrated in the second half of the fiscal year.
Fluidigm's net loss for the quarter was $19.9 million, or $.69 per share, compared to a loss of $15.9 million, or $.56 per share, a year ago. On an adjusted basis, Fluidigm's loss per share was $.40, exceeding analysts' estimate of a loss per share of $.53.
The firm's R&D spending increased 4 percent to $10.4 million from $10.0 million in the prior-year period. SG&A spending was $25.5 million, up 27 percent from $20.1 million due to higher headcount and severance.
The firm ended the quarter with $42.9 million in cash and cash equivalents, and $52.4 million in short-term investments.
Fluidigm provided guidance for between $124 million and $128 million in total revenues for fiscal year 2016, with minimal currency-related impacts on revenue.