What happened
Shares of life sciences company Bionano Genomics (BNGO -2.78%) were up nearly 14% late Monday afternoon after the genomic testing equipment maker announced preliminary first-quarter numbers. The stock is down more than 45% so far this year.
So what
Bionano said it expected revenue of $7.3 million to $7.5 million in the first quarter, representing an increase of 28% to 32%, year over year. That would also mean the 10th consecutive quarter of improved revenue for Bionano, year over year. The company, which manufactures the Saphyr optical genome mapping system, said it has 259 of its systems installed, an increase of 47% over the same period last year. The point of the Saphyr is it helps laboratories more efficiently find aberrations in genes that could cause medical disorders. The Saphyr increases the resolution by up to 10,000 times for genomic mapping and doubles the success rates used by other clinical research labs, Bionano says. The product's target market, the company said, is 10,000 labs, including academic medical centers, hospitals, and large reference labs, plus 1,400 therapeutic companies, such as pharmaceutical and biotech companies.
Now what
Notably absent in the preliminary report is net income, or as is likely the case with Bionano, net losses. Last year, the company reported a net loss of $132.6 million and its annual losses have increased by 616% over the past five years. The other concern for Bionano is the stock has faced the possibility of being delisted in the past and it has been trading under $1 a share since April 14. That means the stock is likely to be more volatile and it makes it harder for the company to raise money through stock sales.
