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Stereotaxis, Inc. (STXS)

Q4 2012 Earnings Call· Wed, Mar 6, 2013

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, thanking you for standing by. Welcome to the Stereotaxis Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2012 Financial Results Conference Call. During today's presentation, all participants will be in a listen-only mode. Following the presentation the conference will be opened for questions. (Operator Instructions) This conference is being recorded today, Tuesday, March 5, 2013. At this time I would now like to turn the conference over to Jim Byers at MKR Group. Please go ahead, sir.

Jim Byers

Management

Thank you, operator, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us today for the Stereotaxis conference call and webcast to review financial results for its 2012 fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2012. Before we get started, we'd like to remind you that during the course of this conference call, the Company may make projections and other forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial performance of the Company. These include, without limitations, statements regarding future operating results, growth opportunities, and other statements that reflect Stereotaxis' plans, prospects, expectations, strategies, intentions and beliefs. These statements are subject to many risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. For a detailed discussion of the risks and uncertainties that affect the Company's business and maybe a part of the forward-looking statements made on this call, we refer you to the Company's periodic and other public filings with the SEC, including its Forms 10-K and Forms 10-Q. The Company's projections and forward-looking statements are based on factors that are subject to change, and therefore these statements speak only as of the date they are given. The Company assumes no obligation to update any projections or forward-looking statements. In addition, regarding orders and backlogs, there can be no assurance that the Company will recognize revenue related to its purchase orders and other commitments in any particular period or at all because some of these purchase orders and other commitments are subject to contingencies that are outside the Company's control. In addition, these orders and comments may be revised, modified or canceled either by their expressed terms, as a result of negotiations or by project changes or delays. Now, with that said, I would like to turn the call over to Mike Kaminski, President and CEO of Stereotaxis.

Michael P. Kaminski

Management

Thank you, Jim. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us for a review of our fourth quarter and full year 2012 performance. With me today is our Board Chairman, Bill Mills; and Interim CFO, Marty Stammer. Following our prepared remarks, we'll open up the call for your questions. I'd like to first, hand the call over to Bill for a few remarks. Bill?

William C. Mills III

Management

Thanks Mike and hello everyone. Before Mike and Marty review the results of an encouraging 2012 for the Company, I want to briefly address the other news that we reported this afternoon. As stated in our press release, Mike has decided to resign from the Company effective April 12 to accept a position as a Division President of a Company in an unrelated field. We're sorry to see him go, but know that it's a great opportunity for him to lend his many talents to another organization. Serving as President and CEO since January 2009, Mike has led Stereotaxis through a critical period of transition from an early commercial phase to the mainstream EP market, effectively translating our superior science to commercial success. Under his direction, the Company has experienced double-digit revenue growth and significantly improved bottom line performance. The Board and I are grateful to Mike for his 11 years of service and unwavering commitment to the Company's important contribution to medicine. The Board will begin an immediate search for an experienced executive who can continue to drive the Company forward. Upon Mike's departure, the Board has appointed Director Euan Thomson and me to lead an interim office of the Chief Executive in which I will serve as Interim CEO and Euan will provide support and guidance in certain areas. We will also rely on the Senior Executive Committee of Stereotaxis to help us ensure continuity during the transition. Furthermore, we will retain Mike as an advisor to the Company through October of next year to assist with our ongoing strategic initiatives. I have proudly served as a member of the Stereotaxis Board of Directors for 13 years, and alongside my colleagues on the Board, I am resolved to ensuring effective leadership that will deliver increasing value to each of our stakeholders. Thank you. Now, I will give the call back to Mike. Mike?

Michael P. Kaminski

Management

Thank you, Bill. It is a bitter-sweet move, because I truly believe in the long-term vision of the Company and its potential to change the face of interventional medicine. It's been a privilege to have the opportunity to lead Stereotaxis and I have gained valuable experiences and lifelong friends during my time with the Company. But as Bill said, I am eager to start a new chapter of my career and I'm pleased to serve the Company in an advisory role over the next several months. I want to thank the Board, the management team, and the employees for all their support for the many years. Now let's talk about the substantial progress we made in 2012. Revenue for the full year grew 11%, reflecting increased sales and customer upgrades of our unique Epoch Platform and operating loss improved to our best results since taking the Company public in 2004. As anticipated, much of this progress occurred in the second half of the year, with considerably improved run rates for several metrics compared to the first two quarters. Through significant cost reductions in every area of our business, we reduced total year operating expenses 31% or $19 million and cash burn 68% or $26 million from 2011. As a result, operating loss narrowed by 67% in 2012, a $21 million year-over-year improvement. During the second half of the year, we lowered operating expenses 28%, cash burn 56%, and operating loss 79%, compared to the first half of the year. And in the fourth quarter, we achieved our best quarterly financial performance in eight years, reducing operating expenses 32% year-over-year, improving cash burn 99% to a record low of $77,000, and reducing operating loss to another record of $880,000, an 81% improvement. At the same time, we continue to build interest…

Martin C. Stammer

Management

Thanks Mike, and good afternoon, everyone. Revenue in the fourth quarter was $12.2 million, up from $11.6 million in both the 2011 fourth quarter and the third quarter of 2012. System revenue improved to $5.6 million from $4.2 million in the prior year quarter and $5 million in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, we recognized revenue of $3.6 million on three Niobe ES systems and upgrades, $300,000 on three Vdrive systems and $1.7 million in Odyssey sales. Recurring revenue of $6.6 million was down from $7.4 million in the 2011 fourth quarter and was slightly higher than the $6.5 million recorded in the 2012 third quarter. Compared with the prior year quarter, disposable revenue was down due to decreased utilization driven by those sites not upgraded to Niobe ES, as well as significant sales in the 2011 fourth quarter associated with the launch of the Epoch Platform. Royalty income were lower than last year, due to contractually lower royalty rate of 14%, which went into effect on January 1, 2012 and compares to a rate of approximately 16% in the prior year period. Gross margin was $7.9 million or 65% of revenue in the fourth quarter compared to a margin of 71.4% in the year ago quarter and 69.8% in the third quarter. The reduction in gross margin from the prior year was driven by shifts in mix from recurring revenue to system revenue and from QuikCAS disposables to lower margin Vdrive disposables, as well as lower margins on distributor sales of Odyssey. Operating expenses in the fourth quarter were down $4.1 million or 32% year-over-year and down $200,000 sequentially. The year-over-year decrease was principally the result of reduced headcount and related travel expenses, as well as lower consulting and discretionary spending. The fourth quarter also realized $400,000…

Michael P. Kaminski

Management

The strategic initiatives we employed in 2011, including launching the Epoch platform, improving operations, and managing expenses to considerably lower cost structure produced positive results in 2012. We achieved double-digit top line growth and significantly improved bottom line, which provides a strong foundation on which to build in 2013. During the first half of 2013, we expect to receive government clearance of our Niobe technology in Japan, a highly anticipated market opportunity. As I mentioned earlier, we’re actively pursuing Vdrive approval in the U.S., which we believe will boost procedure volume in North American accounts and open up our robotics platform to a new set of users. And as Marty noted, we are in discussions with multiple companies concerning various geographic rights of our products, and the sale of non-core assets. We believe we are well-positioned to fully leverage each of these opportunities for revenue growth while continuing to provide new products and enhance training that drive utilization. And by maintaining operating expenses at their current level, we also believe we can continue to grow top line leading to improved bottom line results, and the achievement of positive free cash flow in the near future. As the clinical evidence grows, there’s little doubt in the minds of many physicians that robotics provide significant value to interventional procedures and that Stereotaxis is a clear market leader. We continue to penetrate the broader commercial EP market with our enhanced technology and hear from physicians that it’s changed the way they practice their interventional medicine. Our adopted physicians have tested Epoch platform’s consistent performance in addressing complex ablations safely, precisely and efficiently. We are focused on helping each of our customers maximize the potential of their robotic suite in their EP lab. Part of this includes leveraging those success stories and gaining traction…

Operator

Operator

Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen we will now begin the question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions) We have a question from the line of Steven Lichtman with Oppenheimer & Co. Please go ahead. Steven Lichtman – Oppenheimer & Co.: Thank you. Hi guys. Mike you focused a lot on our efforts to improve disposable growth looking forward. I’m curious on the systems side, new system placements this year were relatively flat versus last year. I know you guys mentioned removing two from backlog. What are you hearing on that side of the fence, what you are hearing from hospitals is, is there cautiousness because of uncertainty out of DC that’s preventing them from pulling the trigger on new systems?

Michael P. Kaminski

Management

No Steve, we hear EP, and the microcosm of EP is very positive news, I think globally, right. It’s growing I think mostly in the U.S. I feel like we’re making money, I think outside of the U.S. they got a long waiting list. I don’t see the capital discussions going on as much as it is in the priority of what they want to invest in, in the hospital budget. I think as we mentioned the tearing of getting the installed base excited by the upgrades of ES, builds markets momentum for people who are in the perspective client list to look at buying. We’re seeing the U.S. kind of come back to life, and the interest is building I think at – and the greater European market is very strong, think about the old eastern block has been very strong, and the market is growing, and of course Asia is just opening up. So we’re pretty bullish on kind of the turning of the quarter of market interest to buying new Niobe system, and I think you’ll see that emerge and unfold in ‘13 and ‘14. Steven Lichtman – Oppenheimer & Co.: You talked about a goal of growing the top line in ‘13. Do you anticipate that being on both the systems and disposable lines? You anticipate both being sort of equal drivers next year or this year?

Michael P. Kaminski

Management

Yeah, I think both will grow, and particularly I think the waiting of that depends on the approval of the Vdrive. If we can get the Vdrive cleared in the U.S., I think you’ll see an accelerated growth with that. So I think that I’ve to look at Marty, I mean the plan shows both growing.

Martin C. Stammer

Management

Yes, that’s correct.

Michael P. Kaminski

Management

I think the capital probably because of the rebounding maybe at a little higher rate because you get a little – with Japan coming on and one order worth $1.5 million it tends to bump at a higher rate. Steven Lichtman – Oppenheimer & Co.: And is the timing on Vdrive the reason for your commentary about second half better than first, does that address the delta?

Michael P. Kaminski

Management

I think kind of the recovery of the U.S., kind of some of the tiering of just when capital orders will come in and go to revenue, plus the Vdrive, plus the Japanese approval. So I think if you get the Japanese approval in the first half seeing that translate to revenue will be delayed some quarters. I think as that emerges. But in total 2013, I think will shape up to be a very strong year. I think it will just be weighted a little more towards the back-half. Steven Lichtman – Oppenheimer & Co.: Okay, great. And on the post-market study that you reference that we’d see at HRS ‘14, what are the metrics being collected, what are the endpoints that we could look forward to for that study?

Michael P. Kaminski

Management

We’re still refining the protocol. We are talking to some physicians over there. We’re looking at enrolling in about five sites, and there’s some – obviously, they’re being acute and a chronic endpoint. The question now is, should we do persistent or purchase more or both. So we’re talking to different physician groups about which is the best approach. But we have – part of the reason that we’re engaging in this is, we have a lot of physicians saying, they believe the efficacy on our platform is phenomenal, and look to do a study to highlight that. So we’re aligning with the physicians to put some science behind that statement. Steven Lichtman – Oppenheimer & Co.: And just lastly for HRS, ‘13, any incremental data points that we should be looking forward to this year?

Michael P. Kaminski

Management

Yeah, we’ll have the VT results out this year, so we got some pretty significant VT results in a one-arm study to a multi-center single-arm study with Stereotaxis, and that will be reviewed, and they have chronic results on that. So we had acute that we put out a while back, and we’ll have the chronic results, and then there are some single-site studies that are emerging, but that’s why we see the positive results of that, we’re going to sponsor the multi-site study this summer. Steven Lichtman – Oppenheimer & Co.: Got it. Okay, great. Thanks guys.

Michael P. Kaminski

Management

Okay. Thanks, Steve.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Gentlemen, at this time I’m showing no further questions. I’d like to turn the conference back over to you for any closing remarks.

Michael P. Kaminski

Management

Well, I want to thank everybody. Certainly, I want to thank all the shareholders. I have really enjoyed my time here, and I’m very bullish on what this Company will achieve in the upcoming years, and I remain very enthusiastic about robotics and interventional medicine. Thank you for this call, and we’ll set up the next call in May. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, if you’d like to listen to a replay of today’s conference, please dial 1-800-406-7325 or 303-590-3030 using the access code of 4604310 followed by the pound key. This does conclude the Stereotaxis fourth quarter and full year 2012 financial results conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.