Diagnostic testing technologies company,
Luminex Corporation
(
LMNX
) reported first quarter fiscal 2012 adjusted (excluding one-time
charges other than stock based compensation expense) earnings of 8
cents per share, in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The
company's year-ago earnings were 11 cents per share. Profit
generated was $3.5 million, down 20.9% from the prior-year
quarter.
Revenues
Revenues rose 13% in the reported quarter to $48.7 million,
narrowly beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $48 million.
Overall increase in revenue was driven by solid growth in the Assay
business and also double-digit sales growth across Royalty and All
Other segments. This was, however, partially offset by lower System
and Consumable sales.
Assay sales soared 80% to $17.3 million backed by higher sales
of Gastrointestinal Pathogen Panel (GPP), the Cystic Fibrosis and
the Luminex Madison businesses.
Revenues from System segment dropped 9% year over year to $7
million. The company shipped 206 multiplexing analyzers (including
55 MAGPIX systems) in the quarter, resulting in total life-to-date
despatches of 8,884 analyzers, up 12% year over year.
Consumable sales dipped 21% to $11.9 million due to tough
year-over-year comparison. Royalty and All Other revenues grew 14%
each to $8.2 million and $4.3 million, respectively.
Margins
Gross margin in the first quarter 2012 was 69% versus 71% in the
year-ago quarter. Operating expenses were $28.2 million (up 25.5%),
which includes the Luminex Madison acquisition worth $2.1 million.
Operating margin fell to 11.5% from 19.2% in the prior-year
quarter.
Selling, general and administrative expenses (as a percentage of
sales) were higher at 36.1% versus 33% in the prior-year quarter.
Research and Development expenses were 19.4% compared with 17.5% in
the year-ago quarter.
Balance Sheet
Luminex ended first quarter 2012 with cash and cash equivalents
of $51.8 million, down 45.2% year over year. Long-term debt was
$2.4 million, down 26.2%.
Guidance
The company reiterated its revenue forecast in the range of $205
million - $215 million.
Luminex possesses an extensive product portfolio and a healthy
pipeline of novel assays, which are expected to support growth
going ahead. Luminex recently extended its agreement with
Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc.
(
BIO
)
.
Per the agreement, Bio-Rad has been given the rights to promote and
sell Luminex's MAGPIX analyzer system till 2023. Also, the company
received CE Mark approval for its NeoPlex4 assay and NeoPlex System
offerings.
However, Luminex operates in a highly competitive life sciences
industry. The company competes with
Affymetrix
(
AFFX
) and
Sequenom
(
SQNM
), among others. Moreover, sluggish growth in its core markets is a
challenge faced by Luminex. We are currently Neutral on the stock,
which is backed by a short-term Zacks #3 Rank (Hold).
AFFYMETRIX INC (AFFX): Free Stock Analysis
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