T2 Biosystems shares tumble on 2018 earnings release

Shares in T2 Biosystems (NSDQ:TTOO) have fallen nearly 20% today after the diagnostics maker posted its full year 2018 earnings.

For the full year, the Lexington, Mass.-based company posted losses of $51.2 million, or $1.26 per share, on sales of $10.5 million, seeing losses shrink 18.1% while sales grew 125% compared with the previous year.

For its fourth quarter, T2 Biosystems reported total sales of $1.8 million, up 6% when compared to the same period during the previous year.

“2018 was a year of major achievements for the company highlighted by the FDA clearance of the T2Bacteria panel, which has driven record levels of new interest from hospitals and allowed us to accelerate the growth of our installed base. In the fourth quarter we secured a record 14 new system contracts, contributing to 25 secured in the second half of the year, which came in at the top of our expectations. The earliest of these new T2Bacteria panel customers have now completed the installation, validation and training processes and are beginning to test patients. Concurrently, we anticipate the body of clinical evidence supporting T2Bacteria Panel will grow this year, along with the sharing of best practices and experience between hospitals. We expect this steady increase of T2Bacteria panel activity to drive greater recurring revenue through 2019, and along with growing system contracts, will contribute to achieving our revenue growth guidance for 2019 and a doubling of revenue again in 2020. In 2019 we expect to further expand our market opportunity with the T2Resistance panel, which we expect to launch as a research-use only product in the U.S. and anticipate receiving a CE mark for commercial launch in Europe by the end of 2019. On the development front, we plan to collect data for our pivotal study for the T2Lyme Panel and are encouraged by pre-clinical data that shows the potential to improve patient outcomes,” prez & CEO John McDonough said in a prepared statement.

T2 Biosystems provided guidance for 2019, saying it expects to post revenue of approximately $21 million for the full year with sales of between $1.3 million and $1.5 million for the first quarter.

Operating expenses, excluding product revenue costs, are expected to be between $10.5 million and $11.5 million for its first quarter, the company said.

Shares in T2 Biosystems have fallen approximately 18.9% so far today, at $2.54 as of 2:45 p.m. EST.

Late last month, T2 Biosystems said that it won FDA breakthrough device designation for its T2Resistance Panel diagnostic designed to detect 13 drug resistance genes from a blood sample.

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