NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Pacific Biosciences of California reported after the close of the market on Thursday that its second quarter 2018 revenues were up 7 percent compared to the second quarter 2017.
The single-molecule sequencing firm reported total Q2 2018 revenues of $21.6 million, compared to $20.1 million in the year-ago quarter, but missed analysts' average estimate of $23.8 million.
Total revenues included $18.5 million in product revenues, up from $16.5 million in Q2 2017, and $3.1 million in service and other revenues, down from $3.5 million a year ago. Within product revenues, sales of consumables were up 6 percent to $10 million from $9.4 million, which was less of an increase than the firm anticipated, PacBio CEO Mike Hunkapiller said during a conference call discussing the company's Q2 results. Sequel usage was up over 90 percent, he said, but consumables for the older RS II system declined over 50 percent, "which offset gains." Instrument revenue, by contrast, was up 20 percent in the quarter to $8.5 million from $7.1 million in Q2 2017.
Ben Gong, PacBio's vice president of finance and treasurer, said during the call that the firm expects consumable revenues to increase throughout the year and noted that sales of Sequel instruments had increased as expected and that the firm had a healthy pipeline. Nonetheless, he said that PacBio would not be providing revenue guidance for 2018. Gong noted that because PacBio plans to launch a new version of its chip next year that will significantly bump up the capacity by increasing the number of wells from 1 million to 8 million, some customers could delay orders.
The firm's net loss was $22.5 million, or $.17 per share, down from $25.5 million, or $.26 per share in Q2 2017. Wall Street had estimated a net loss per share of $.17.
PacBio's R&D expenses were $15.7 million, down 7 percent from $16.9 million in the prior-year period, while SG&A expenses were $14.9 million, down 4 percent from $15.5 million.
The firm ended the quarter with $63.5 million in cash and investments.
On Friday morning, PacBio's stock was down around 7 percent at $3.60 on the Nasdaq.