Andrew Schemick
Analyst · Jefferies
Thank you, William. Hello, everyone. Before getting into the third quarter, I'd like to touch on the financial highlights of our acquisition of Pinnacle 21. As William stated earlier, we are excited to work with the Pinnacle 21 team, and the integration is off to a smooth start. Pinnacle 21 is a strong financial and cultural fit with Certara, and the transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to our key financial metrics. As previously discussed, we are currently forecasting Pinnacle 21 2022 revenue to be in the range of $30 million to $32 million, exclusive of purchase accounting adjustments. We are currently forecasting revenue of approximately $6 million in the fourth quarter of 2021 out of an expected full year pro forma revenue of $23 million to $24 million, exclusive of the purchase accounting adjustments. To that point, we will have a purchase accounting adjustment reported revenue related to Pinnacle's software deferred revenue in the fourth quarter and throughout 2022. The impact of the deferred revenue valuation adjustment is expected to be in the range of $4 million to $5 million in the fourth quarter. We also expect the Pinnacle 21 acquisition to have adjusted EBITDA margins modestly higher than the Certara corporate average in the fourth quarter of 2021 and look for them to expand in calendar year 2022. Now to base Certara results. Total revenue for the 3 months ended September 30, 2021, was $73.9 million, representing year-over-year growth of 23%. Year-to-date bookings were $229.2 million, up 12% year-over-year and up 15% on a trailing 12-month basis. The general business environment for bookings was slow during the first 2 months of the quarter, but the recent trends in pipeline for the fourth quarter position us well to achieve our guidance to maintain high visibility. After October results, the trailing 12 months bookings were up 18% versus the same period last year. As a reminder, I continue to look at trailing 12 months bookings as a predictor of forward 12 months bookings. And on this metric, Certara is delivering in line with our long-term forecast of mid-teens organic revenue growth. Software revenue was $19.3 million, which increased 9% over the prior year period as a result of strong third quarter bookings, new logos and expansions on renewals. Software bookings were $20.9 million, which increased 28% from the prior year period and the aggregate renewal rate was 87%. The aggregate renewal rate was below our target, primarily due to retime renewals. Year-to-date, software bookings grew 19% and the aggregate renewal rate was 90%. The growth in the quarter and year-to-date was driven by our biosimulation software, Simcyp and Phoenix, which are up 17% year-to-date. Services revenue was $54.7 million, which increased 28% over the prior year period. The growth in services revenue was driven by the recognition of delayed tech-driven regulatory services as well as strong growth in biosimulation offerings. Services bookings were $51.4 million, which decreased 10% from the prior year period. If you recall, Q3 of last year benefited from a bolus of bookings that were delayed from the first half of the year during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Year-to-date services bookings are up 10%, and we have seen services bookings pick up in September and October after a couple of slow months during the summer. Looking forward, the pipeline is strong and Q3 performance is mostly reflective of timing. Total cost of revenue for the third quarter of 2021 was $28.8 million, an increase from $23 million in the third quarter of 2020, primarily due to increases in employee-related costs resulting from billable headcount growth and stock-based compensation. Total operating expenses for the third quarter of 2021 were $45.9 million, an increase from $26.9 million in the third quarter of 2020. The components of operating expenses are as follows: Sales and marketing expenses were $5.1 million compared to $3.1 million for the third quarter of 2020, due to a $1.1 million increase in employee-related costs resulting from headcount growth and $0.6 million in stock-based compensation. R&D expenses were $4.5 million compared to $3.3 million for the third quarter of 2020. The increase in R&D expenses was primarily due to a $0.9 million increase in employee-related costs resulting from headcount growth and a 0.5% increase in stock-based compensation, both of which were partially offset by smaller reductions in other line items. G&A expenses were $26.2 million compared to $13.4 million for the third quarter of 2020. The increase was primarily due to $7.4 million of acquisition costs, $4.5 million increase in stock-based compensation costs and $0.7 million increase in insurance expenses. Also contributing to the increase were public company costs, which year-to-date have added approximately $4 million to our cost structure. Intangible asset amortization was $9.6 million and depreciation and amortization expense was $0.5 million for the third quarter. There were no significant changes in either line item. Continuing down the P&L, interest expense during the third quarter was $3.3 million compared to $5.9 million for the third quarter of 2021. The year-over-year reduction in interest expense is due to the repayment of our holdco loan last year. Income tax benefit was $1.6 million due to the tax effects of U.S. pretax loss, nondeductible items, the effects of tax elections made on U.K. earnings and the relative mix of domestic and international earnings and discrete tax items. Net loss for the third quarter of 2021 was $1.8 million compared to net income of $1.2 million in the third quarter of 2020, due primarily to the increase in stock-based compensation expense and acquisition costs which were partially offset by higher revenue and lower interest expense. Diluted loss per share for the third quarter of 2021 was $0.01 as compared to earnings per share of $0.01 in the third quarter of 2020. Adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter of 2021 was $26.1 million compared to $20.5 million for the third quarter of 2020, representing 28% growth. We continue to perform well against our plan and have made some upward adjustments to guidance based on the year-to-date performance as well as the impact of Pinnacle 21. Adjusted net income for the third quarter of 2021 was $10.8 million compared to $3.3 million for the third quarter of 2020. Adjusted diluted earnings per share for the third quarter of 2021 was $0.07 compared to $0.02 for the third quarter of 2020. Now moving to the balance sheet. We ended the quarter with $416.8 million of cash and cash equivalents, which includes net proceeds of $133 million from our offering earlier in the quarter. $250 million of the cash balance was planned for the Pinnacle 21 acquisition. And post-closing, our cash position and balance sheet remains strong after the effect of the acquisition. As of September 30, 2021, we had $301.2 million of outstanding borrowings on the term loan and $100 million of availability under the revolving credit facility under the credit agreement. Regarding financial outlook, we are increasing our previously reported guidance for full year 2021 revenue, adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EPS, including Pinnacle '21. GAAP revenue in the range of $288 million to $291 million; adjusted revenue in the range of $292 million to $295 million, which excludes the Pinnacle 21 deferred revenue valuation adjustment of approximately $4 million to $5 million; adjusted EBITDA in the range of $106 million to $108 million, including $2 million to $3 million from Pinnacle 21; adjusted EPS in the range of $0.22 to $0.26 per share; a fully diluted share in the range of $155 million to $166 million, which includes the impact of the 4.5 million shares sold in our secondary offering in the third quarter and approximately 2.2 million shares relating to the Pinnacle 21 acquisition. Thank you. Now I'll turn it back to our CEO, William Feehery.