This story has been updated to include comments made from Illumina management during a conference call.
NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Illumina reported after the close of the market on Tuesday that its 2015 fourth quarter revenues were up 15 percent over Q4 2014.
The San Diego-based genetic analysis products firm reported total Q4 revenues of $591.5 million compared to $512.4 million in Q4 2014, beating analysts' average estimate of $585.2 million. On a constant currency basis, its revenues increased 19 percent.
Revenues were slightly higher than Illumina's preliminary announcement last month of $590 million.
"We closed 2015 with strong momentum as fourth quarter orders and revenue exceeded our expectations," Illumina CEO Jay Flatley said in a statement.
The firm reported product revenue of $497.9 million for the quarter, up from $450.3 million in Q4 2014. Service and other revenue climbed to $93.6 million from $62.1 million. The 50 percent jump in service revenue was driven primarily by an increase in noninvasive prenatal tests, as well as extended maintenance contracts and genotyping.
Total sequencing revenues grew 19 percent in Q4 2015, driven by clinical and translational customers, Flatley said during a conference call discussing the firm's Q4 performance. The clinical oncology market was particularly strong, growing approximately 40 percent compared to the year ago quarter, Flatley said.
Array revenues declined by 2 percent in the fourth quarter despite a 1 percent bump in shipments compared to Q4 2014. Flatley said during the call that "strong demand" from agriculture, direct-to-consumer, and biobanking customers, as well as the launch of two new products — the Infinium Methylation Epic and Infinium ImmunoArray, led to a record 1.6 million samples shipped in the quarter.
Flatley said the company expects that the array business will experience "slight growth in 2016."
Illumina's net income for the quarter was $104.5 million, or $.70 per share, compared to $153.3 million, or $1.03 per share in Q4 2014. On a non-GAAP basis its EPS was $.81, just below analysts' average estimate of $.82 per share.
Illumina's R&D expenses for the quarter were down to $114.3 million from $142.9 million in Q4 2014, while SG&A expenses rose to $147.3 million from $122.2 million.
Illumina forecasted its 2016 revenues would grow 16 percent and its EPS would be in the range of $3.55 to $3.65 per share. Marc Stapley, Illumina CFO, said during the call that the company expects sequencing instrument sales to be flat, and that sequencing consumables will drive 2016 revenue growth.
For full year 2015, Illumina's revenues increased 19 percent to $2.22 billion from $1.86 billion in 2014. Its product revenue was $1.89 billion versus $1.62 billion for FY 2014, while service and other revenue jumped to $329.1 million from $241.8 million.
Illumina's net income rose to $461.6 million, or $3.10 per share, compared to $353.4 million, or $2.37 per share, in FY 2014. Non-GAAP EPS for FY 2015 was $3.32 per share, just missing the Wall Street estimate of $3.33 per share.
The firm's R&D expenses for the year were $401.5 million, up from $388.1 million in the prior year, while SG&A expenses were $524.7 million in 2015 compared to $466.3 million in 2014.
Illumina finished the year with $768.8 million in cash and cash equivalents and $617.5 million in short-term investments.