Jack Peurach
Analyst · Craig Bijou with Cantor Fitzgerald. Please proceed
Thank you, David. And thanks everyone for joining today's call. Our financial results for the third quarter of 2019 demonstrate our ongoing commitment to achieving our sales and operational objectives. In what is typically our seasonally weakest quarter, revenues for the third quarter increased 30% compared to the third quarter of 2018 and were up slightly over the second quarter of 2019, highlighted by a strong record revenue quarter for EksoHealth. We also saw an improvement in gross margins, which increased to a record of 53%, up from 42% in the same period last year. We have continued to improve our operating expenses, achieving a 23% decrease in the third quarter of 2019 compared with the same period in 2018. Additionally, our rental program continues to yield great results. At the end of Q3, our cumulative conversion rate of our rental to a sale remains strong at 86%, the solid year-over-year improvement in multiple financial metrics achieved in the third quarter reflects the success of our commercial strategy and the value our customers see in adopting our solutions. As I noted on last quarter's call, we established the near-term goal in both the EMEA and APAC regions to continue to extend customer awareness and better support and equip our channel partners to effectively communicate the value our products provided to shorten the sales cycle. We are pleased that the changes we implemented in Europe while recent are having a positive impact by improving our sales results in our direct markets, reducing our operating expenses and better supporting our distribution partners. As mentioned, we are experiencing traction in the direct market in Germany and expect that market will play a significant role in our EMEA growth. We continue to evaluate our European strategies to realize the full potential of our products in this key region. Let me now review our business segments, beginning with EksoHealth. Revenue in the third quarter increased by more than 70% relative to Q3 2018, primarily the result of higher sales to our U.S. and European customers. In the third quarter, we booked 23 Ekso units comprising both EksoGT and EksoNR units. This includes two rental units and seven previously rented units that were converted to sales. As I have discussed in the past, our primary market focus is the Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility segment or IRF segment where much of the acute and post acute rehabilitation occurs. Today, eight of the top 10 U.S. rehab centers have at least one EksoGT and roughly 10% of the approximately 1300 stork rehab centers in the U.S. are Ekso customers. In addition to Inpatient Rehabilitation Facilities. We are also seeing increased interest in additional market segments with new pilots happening in the Long-Term Acute Care hospitals or LTAC segment where the focus is on long-term rehab and treatment of other medical conditions and in the skilled nursing facilities or SNIF segment where the focus is on long-term rehabilitation. There are about 600 LTACs and 15,000 SNIFs in the United States. For our type of robotic therapy, we believe the aggregate post acute market opportunity is roughly $500 million to $750 million annually. To gain share in these markets, we are focused on IDNs and network operators. We believe they provide opportunities for multiunit sales, which will play an increasingly important role in our growth strategy and we are adapting our sales practices to facilitate the purchase process for these customers who typically have more complex decision-making processes. We currently have power at various stages with multiple network operators that represent approximately 400 centers. An important compliment of our strategy to increase both our customer base and our sales per customer is to solidify our leadership position at the cutting edge of robotic neuro rehabilitation. With the unveiling of the EksoNR, our next generation EksoGT and the expansion of our medical exoskeleton portfolio to include the EksoUE upper extremity device. Our activities in the third quarter of 2019 underscore our ongoing capacity for and commitment to innovating solutions that amplify human motion by enhancing strengths, endurance and mobility. These achievements also reflect our ability to address the needs of the customers and the patients that we strive to serve everyday and we remain focused on providing superior customer service, driving continued sales growth and optimizing our cost structure. We recently hosted many of our customers clinical staff at our Annual Clinical Users Group meeting and we were pleased that the early feedback on EksoNR’s new feature and software enhancements was highly favorable. The PT users were particularly excited about the new patient feedback scores and new ways to implement this information for better treatment interventions. Additionally, the EksoNR’s outcome measures allow patient tracking over multiple sessions. Customer enthusiasm has already translated into orders an outstanding quotes for upgrades to existing EksoGT’s already in the field with orders of outstanding quotes already represented greater than 10% of our existing U.S. EksoGT installed base. Our recently as EksoUE is a one-of-a-kind wearable device that gives patients greater range of motion and increased ability to complete tasks during therapy sessions, allowing them to actively participate in longer and more productive sessions. In addition to its innovative features EksoUE expand our customer base to include occupational therapists who represent an exciting new user segment within the rehabilitation market. Our initial commercial activities is focused on existing customers where we have already placed a small number of units. Patient and clinician feedback so far has been excellent. We expect to ramp commercial activity through Q4 2019 and into Q1 2020 as we continue to educate the market about the unique opportunity this product represents. Our EksoGT users already recognize the clinical and economic benefits of our rehabilitation solutions. We are communicating a compelling value proposition that clearly articulates how the EksoUE and upgraded to the EksoNR will help them improve their clinical workflows and patient outcomes. Additionally, we believe that the EksoUE will be an important complement of our strategy for expanding our customer base, because it can help rehabilitation providers enhance their patients offerings even if they are not yet in a position to purchase an EksoNR unit. Additionally, it provides our salesforce with another reason to engage with potential customers and to build the trust and understanding that is essential for securing future business. Going forward, we will continue to improve and evolve our product offerings with a clear focus on improving patient outcomes. Let me now turn to our Ekso Works industrial segment. Revenues for the third quarter 2019 were lower compared with the same period a year ago, primarily due to slower than anticipated customer purchasing decisions. As we have noted, the time from initial evaluation to adoption is somewhat longer than expected and some of the industrial customers we been working with as they put our product through rigorous qualification processes. While we are optimistic about the longer term potential of our industrial offerings, several customer opportunities remain at the early stage. We are taking steps to engage with a broader mix of companies in industries and segments outside of our initial go-to-market, including a variety of construction segments. I look forward to updating you on our progress in the industrial markets as a customer discussions, pilot programs and diversification strategies advance. In China, we are in the process of transferring production to the JV and expect to qualify our China JV partner as a manufacturer for our industrial products before the end of 2019 with industrial shipments anticipated to commence in the first quarter of 2020. Production qualification shipments of our Ekso Medical Devices are expected to follow shortly thereafter. Initiating shipments from the JV is an important milestone in Ekso Bionics strategies to improve our cost of goods and achieve additional operational efficiencies. Additionally, achieving medical device production capability will allow the JV to pursue China regulatory compliance, which is required to market and sell the EksoNR in China. That concludes my opening remarks. Now I will turn the call over to Jack to review our 2019 third quarter financial results.