NEW YORK – Seer reported after the close of the market Thursday that its Q4 revenues were up 48 percent year over year.
For the three months ended Dec. 31, 2022, the Redwood City, California-based proteomics firm posted revenues of $4.6 million, up from $3.1 million in the year-ago period and beating the consensus Wall Street estimate of $3.9 million.
Product revenue was down 26 percent, however, falling to $1.4 million from $1.9 million in Q4 of 2021, reflecting slower-than-expected sales of the company's Proteograph product suite.
Related party revenue, meanwhile, was $1.7 million, up 42 percent from $1.2 million in Q4 of 2021.This revenue came from sales to Seer spinout PrognomIQ, which is using the company's technology for diagnostics development. Seer holds a roughly 19 percent stake in PrognomIQ.
Service revenue was $708,000, compared to no service revenue in the year-ago period. Grant and other revenue was $745,000, up nearly 22-fold from $34,000 in Q4 of 2021.
During a conference call following the release of the Q4 2022 results, Seer CFO David Horn said the company "experienced an elongated sales cycle" for its Proteograph instruments and attributed this to the "disruptive nature" of the technology and the uncertain macroeconomic environment. Seer shipped 22 instruments in 2022, which was below the consensus Wall Street estimate of 29 instruments. The company has placed a total of 39 Proteograph instruments since the system was launched.
Horn also noted that some deals originally projected as Proteograph sales shifted to either system leases or services deals, which he said Seer believes will ultimately lead to purchases of the Proteograph system.
"What we are trying to do is get people access to the technology, whether that's purchasing outright, using it through a service model, or potentially doing a kind of lease arrangement," he said.
Omid Farokhzad, Seer's chair, president, and CEO, said during the call that roughly 5 percent to 10 percent of the company's 2023 revenue would come from services.
Horn noted that "solid" consumables sales to Proteograph users countered the slower-than-expected pace of instrument sales.
"We continue to see good pull-through for those that do have the instrument," he said, adding that Seer anticipates the majority of its 2023 revenue will come from consumables sales.
Seer's net loss in the fourth quarter was $22.5 million, or $.36 per share, compared to a net loss of $19.7 million, or $.32 per share, in Q4 of 2021 and below the consensus Wall Street estimate of a $.43 per share net loss.
The company's R&D expenses in Q4 were $12.6 million, up 54 percent from $8.2 million in Q4 of 2021. General and administrative costs were $14.6 million, up 11 percent from $13.1 million in the year-ago period.
For full-year 2022, Seer posted revenues of $15.5 million, up more than twofold from $6.6 million in 2021 and beating Wall Street's average estimate of $15.3 million.
Product revenue for full-year 2022 was $8.6 million, up more than twofold from $3.6 million in 2021. Related party revenue was $5.2 million, more than double the $2.3 million in related party revenue Seer posted in 2021. Service revenue was $913,000, up 83 percent from $500,000 in 2021. Grant and other revenue was $808,000, up nearly fourfold from $223,000 the previous year.
The company's 2022 net loss was $93.0 million, or $1.49 per share, compared to a net loss of $71.2 million, or $1.17 per share, in 2021. This beat the Wall Street estimate of a net loss of $1.56 per share.
Seer's R&D expenses in 2022 were $45.8 million, up 57 percent from $29.1 million in 2021. General and administrative costs were $58.5 million, up 28 percent from $45.8 million the year before.
Seer ended 2022 with $53.7 million in cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash and $368.0 million in short-term investments.
The company said it expects full-year 2023 revenues to be in the range of $23 million to $25 million, representing year-over-year growth of 48 percent to 61 percent.
In Friday morning trading on the Nasdaq, Seer stock was up 21 percent to $5.09.