Cepheid Q3 Loss Widens; Updates Fiscal Year Guidance

(RTTNews) - Cepheid (CPHD) reported a wider loss for its third-quarter as costs and operating expenses increased year-over-year. Revenue growth was 10% for the quarter. GAAP gross margin on sales was 46% and non-GAAP gross margin on sales was 48%, compared to 51% and 52%, respectively, in the third quarter of 2014.

For the fiscal year ending December 31, 2015, the company now expects: total revenue to be in the range of $537 to $541 million; net loss in the range of $0.73 to $0.71 per share; and Non-GAAP earnings in the range of a loss of $0.01 to income of $0.01 per share. In July, the company projected net loss of $0.51 to $0.47 per share, and adjusted earnings of $0.25 to $0.29 per share, for the fiscal year 2015.

"Our Commercial Clinical business has grown 22% year-to-date and we currently expect to deliver approximately 20% growth for the full year," said John Bishop, Cepheid's Chairman and CEO.

For the third quarter of 2015, net loss was $22.9 million, or $0.32 per share, compared to net loss of $7.2 million, or $0.10 per share, in the third quarter of 2014. Excluding stock-based compensation expense, amortization of debt discount and transaction costs, and amortization of purchased intangible assets, non-GAAP net loss for the third quarter of 2015 was $9.1 million, or $0.13 per share.

On average, 13 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report a loss per share of $0.31 for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Revenue for the third quarter of 2015 of $126.5 million, compared to $115.2 million for the third quarter of 2014. Analysts expected revenue of $126.81 million for the quarter.