NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Fluidigm said after the close of the market on Thursday that its third quarter revenues dropped 3 percent year over year but increased 3 percent on a constant-currency basis.
For the three months ended Sept. 30, the South San Francisco-based genomics tools company reported $28.6 million in total revenues compared to $29.6 million in the year-ago period and ahead of analysts' consensus estimate of $27.4 million.
Fluidigm's instrument revenues shrunk 3 percent to $15.1 million from $15.6 million, as increased sales of Helios CyTOF systems were tempered by decreased sales from core genomics systems. The company's consumables revenues fell 14 percent to $10.0 million from $11.7 million in the year-ago period, primarily due to decreased sales from production genomics applications.
Meanwhile, Fluidigm's service revenues grew 52 percent to $3.5 million from $2.3 million.
"In the third quarter of 2015 we made progress in stabilizing our near-term performance and expanding our commercial organization to improve execution," Fludiigm CEO Gajus Worthington said in a conference call following release of the earnings.
"Our single-cell proteomics CyTOF product line continued to grow strongly on a year-over-year basis," Worthington said. "However, top-line growth was moderated by decreased consumables consumption by production genomics customers, core single-cell genomics instrument sales, and a modest contribution from new products. We expect these dynamics to persist through the end of the year."
Worthington also noted that Fluidigm's flagship C1 Single-Cell AutoPrep system installed base now stands at approximately 375 units. "The throughput of all these instruments can now be increased by nearly an order of magnitude simply by purchasing our new high-throughput single-cell mRNA sequencing chips, which began shipping in the quarter," Worthington said. "Encouragingly, this new product accounted for approximately 20 percent of C1 consumables sales."
In addition, Worthington said the company is pleased with the performance of its single-cell proteomics product line in the quarter. In particular, he noted, Helios, its recently launched next-generation single-cell proteomics platform, "has struck a resonant chord" with customers.
"Specifically, Helios' improved sensitivity, capture efficiency, and ease of use are appealing to both our existing and new customer base," he said. "Our available base is also expanding. For example, approximately 40 percent of Helios systems sold in the quarter were driven by non-academic customers, such as biopharma."
Fluidigm trimmed its Q3 net loss to $9.3 million, or $.32 per share, from $13.8 million, or $.49 per share, in Q3 2014. On an adjusted basis, its net loss was $.15 per share, bettering the Wall St. expectation of a loss of $.55 per share.
The company's R&D costs fell 26 percent to $9.4 million from $12.7 million in the year-ago period, while its SG&A expenses rose 5 percent to $19.6 million from $18.6 million.
Fluidigm finished the quarter with $28.8 million in cash and cash equivalents, and $68.3 million in short-term investments.
The company narrowed its full-year 2015 revenue guidance to between $111 million and $114 million, compared to a prior guidance of $110 million to $115 million. These projections incorporate an estimated negative currency effect of approximately 4 percent to 5 percent at the midpoint of the range.