NEW YORK – Personalis reported after the close of the market on Wednesday that its first quarter revenues grew 9 percent year over year.
For the three months ended March 31, the Menlo Park, California-based population sequencing and cancer genomics firm tallied $20.9 million in revenues compared to $19.2 million a year ago and edging analysts' consensus estimate of $20.4 million.
The company logged $13.2 million in revenues from the VA's Million Veterans Program, down 11 percent from $14.8 million in Q1 2020, and $7.7 million from other customers, up 74 percent from $4.4 million in Q1 2020.
During the quarter, Personalis announced a collaboration with Natera in which Personalis will provide exome sequence data to pair with Natera's personalized Signatera circulating tumor DNA platform for minimal residual disease testing. The firm also announced a partnership with MapKure to use Personalis' NeXT Platform, an exome/transcriptome sequencing assay, for clinical trials and companion diagnostic development.
In a call discussing the firm's financial results, CEO John West said that Personalis now received "all of the samples required" to complete its existing orders for the VA MVP, "putting us in a great position through Q3."
"We have also engaged with the VA about options for further orders under our existing contract with them, which expires in August of this year," he said, adding that the firm is optimistic its relationship with the agency will "not only continue, but broaden."
West said Personalis believes that oncology revenues will become a larger part of its total revenue mix in the future as it further demonstrates its ability to analyze both tissue and liquid biopsy samples. Finally, he highlighted the company's plans to expand its liquid biopsy offering with the launch of NeXT Personal for minimal residual disease detection later this year.
"We have begun to process customer samples [for early platform testing] … and are very encouraged by those initial results," he said. "We believe that with the ability to monitor over a thousand mutations, we'll compare favorably in terms of sensitivity and information content with panels from competitors that can identify and track only dozens or hundreds of mutations."
Following the announcement of the company's quarterly results, Oppenheimer upgraded its rating of Personalis from Perform to Outperform and added a $28 price target, citing new opportunities for pharma services as the company builds out a new lab in China, plans to launch its own MRD assay, and is confident about new orders from the VA MVP program.
"We believe Personalis is entering an extended period of high growth as it leverages new functionality," Oppenheimer analyst Kevin DeGeeter wrote in a note to investors.
Personalis had a Q1 net loss of $12.4 million, or $.29 per share, compared to a net loss of $9.1 million, or $.29 per share, a year ago. Analysts on average had expected a net loss of $.36 per share.
During the quarter, the company added approximately $162 million in cash to its balance sheet from a public stock offering.
The company's Q1 R&D expenses rose 48 percent to $9.5 million from $6.4 million, while its SG&A expenses jumped 42 percent to $10.4 million from $7.3 million.
The company finished the quarter with $137.1 million in cash and cash equivalents and $216.3 million in short-term investments.
For the second quarter, Personalis expects revenues of about $21.3 million, with non-VA MVP revenues in the range of $7.3 million to $7.7 million. It anticipates a Q2 net loss of $16 million to $17 million.
For full-year 2021, the company expects revenues of approximately $85 million, with non-VA MVP revenues of $30 million to $32 million. Personalis expects a net loss of $70 million to $75 million for 2021.