Sean Wirtjes
Analyst · Stifel. Please go ahead
Thanks, Rob, and good morning, everyone. This morning, we reported fourth quarter 2022 commercial revenue of $4.4 million, which compares to $4.9 million of commercial revenue reported in Q4 2021. We placed two growth direct systems in the fourth quarter compared to three last year. Product revenue, which is comprised of systems and consumables, was $2.8 million in Q4 compared to $2.9 million in Q4 last year. Consumable sales grew approximately 20% in the quarter and offset the impact of one fewer system placement compared to Q4 last year. Service revenue was 1.5 million in Q4 compared to 2.0 million last year. We completed the validation of three systems in the quarter bringing total validated systems to 103 at the end of 2022. While Q4 revenue was lower than last year due to less validation activity, service contract revenue increased approximately 40% due to our higher base of validated systems. Fourth quarter recurring revenue was $2.9 million, representing an increase of nearly 30% compared to the fourth quarter of 2021, driven by growth in both consumables and service contracts. Non-recurring revenue was $1.5 million in Q4 compared to $2.6 million in Q4 last year as a result of one fewer system placement and lower validation activity. Turning to gross margins, product margins were negative $2.4 million in Q4 compared to negative $2.7 million in the fourth quarter last year. The improvement was a result of continued progress on our consumable manufacturing efficiency initiatives, despite unfavorable product mix. On a sequential basis, product margins were consistent with Q3. While system margins were slightly negative in the quarter due mainly to lower system revenue and reduced production volumes, they improved meaningfully compared to Q3. Consumable margins declined in Q4 on both a year over year and sequential basis due to unplanned downtime on our automated manufacturing line. Service margins were negative $188,000 in Q4 compared to positive $48,000 last year. The decline was due to lower validation revenue as well as higher spending on personnel, travel and materials associated with supporting a higher level of systems under service contracts. On a combined basis, our fourth quarter gross margin percentage was negative 59%. This was relatively flat compared to Q4 last year with better system margins and benefits from our consumables efficiency initiatives offset by unfavorable product mix, unplanned manufacturing downtime, and consumables and lower service margins. While we continue to see some inflationary headwinds in certain material freight and labor costs, they did not have a meaningful impact during the quarter. Moving down the P&L total operating expenses were $14.7 million in the fourth quarter consisting of $4.1 million in sales and marketing, $3.4 million in R&D and $7.1 million in G&A. This compares to total operating expenses of $12.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2021. The increase was mainly due to $0.8 million in severance employee benefits and retention related to the restructuring plan we announced in August, as well as $1.0 million in expenses related to the strategic review process we announced in August and concluded in December. Net loss was $16.4 million in Q4. This compares to a net loss of $14.6 million in the fourth quarter last year. The higher net loss in Q4 this year was primarily due to higher operating expenses. As a result of the non-recurring items, I outlined a moment ago. Net loss per share attributable to common shareholders was $0.39 in Q4 2022, compared to a net loss of $0.35 in the prior year quarter. With respect to non-cash expenses and capital expenditures, depreciation and amortization was $0.9 million. Stock compensation expense was $1.1 million, and capital expenditures were $0.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2022. As of December 31st, we had $138.4 million in cash, cash equivalents, and investments. We remained confident this provides us with cash runway at least into 2026. Now turning to our 2023 outlook, my comments will be focused on the full year in the first quarter. For the full year 2023, we expect our commercial revenue to be at least $22 million, which assumes that we will place at least 15 systems and represents growth of at least 30%. For Q1, we expect commercial revenue of at least $4 million, which assumes at least two system placements. From there, we expect to continue to build momentum as we move through the year with commercial revenue and system placements accelerating as we move into the second half peaking in Q4. Having said that, we continue to be subject to quarter-to-quarter variability and the timing of system placements and therefore revenue. As Rob mentioned, most geographies are essentially back to pre-pandemic operations. However, we are still operating in a dynamic macro-economic environment. As a result, our guidance reflects our expectation that we will continue to see uncertainty and variability in some customer purchase decisions, including longer than expected lead times for some multi-system orders. With respect to other revenue streams, we expect the fact that we place nine systems in 2022 to result in lower revenue growth and service, mainly related to validations and to a lesser extent, consumables in 2023 as compared to 2022. We expect to complete at least 14 validations in 2023 with at least two in the first quarter. Based on our revenue outlook, we expect our Q1 gross margin to be similar to Q4 2022, and then improve as the year progresses as cost reduction and manufacturing efficiency initiatives generate benefits and volume leverage increases. With respect to operating expenses, we expect quarterly OpEx to be between $12.5 million and $13.5 million in 2023 with variability mainly driven by $1.8 million in non-recurring restructuring related expenses that will impact the first three quarters of the year, as well as the timing of certain new product development activities. Finally, we expect cash burn to be roughly $40 million in 2023. This includes a meaningful positive contribution from working capital, particularly as a result of inventory reduction act initiatives and approximately $2 million of CapEx spend. We expect this to put us at or slightly below $100 million in cash and investments at the end of 2023. That concludes my comments on our full year and Q1 outlook. So at this point, we'll open the call up for questions. Operator?