On February 25, 2021 Personalis, Inc. (Nasdaq: PSNL), a leader in advanced genomics for population sequencing and cancer, reported financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2020 (Press release, Personalis, FEB 25, 2021, View Source [SID1234575637]).

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Fourth Quarter Highlights

Record quarterly revenue of $20.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2020 compared with $18.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2019, an 11% increase
Record quarterly revenue of $7.6 million from biopharma and all other customers, excluding VA MVP, in the fourth quarter of 2020 compared with $4.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2019, a 73% increase
A total of 45 customers have placed orders for NeXT as of December 31, 2020, with 6 of those customers placing their first orders in the fourth quarter of 2020
Achieved milestone of completing more than 100,000 whole human genomes sequenced under the VA MVP contract
Launched new neoantigen prediction capabilities (called SHERPA and NEOPS) in the fourth quarter of 2020
"I’m proud to say that we were able to report record revenue once again this quarter and achieved our first $20 million revenue quarter, despite the impact from the COVID-19 pandemic. Biopharma revenue was strong and was a record high as some customers pushed to complete projects before the end of the year," said John West, Chief Executive Officer. "Recently, we announced a partnership with Natera that further validates our NeXT platform as a best-in-class tissue-sequencing front end, capable of detecting mutations in cancer that conventional exomes often miss. It also complements our whole exome liquid biopsy offering that we launched in August 2020 and NeXT Personal, our Minimal Residual Disease (MRD) offering that we expect to launch in 2021, providing Personalis with access to three distinct areas in the rapidly growing cancer monitoring market."

Fourth Quarter 2020 Financial Results

Revenues were $20.2 million in the three months ended December 31, 2020, up 11% from $18.2 million in the same period of the prior year.

Gross margin was 30.1% in the three months ended December 31, 2020, compared with 36.2% in the same period of the prior year.

Operating expenses were $19.4 million in the three months ended December 31, 2020, compared with $13.8 million in the same period of the prior year.

Net loss was $13.3 million in the three months ended December 31, 2020 and net loss per share was $0.34 based on a weighted-average basic and diluted share count of 39.0 million, compared with a net loss of $6.6 million and a net loss per share of $0.21 on a weighted-average basic and diluted share count of 31.2 million in the same period of the prior year.

Cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments were $203.3 million as of December 31, 2020.

Full Year 2020 Financial Results

Revenues were $78.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2020, up 21% from $65.2 million in 2019.

Gross margin was 25.6% for the year ended December 31, 2020, compared with 33.9% in 2019.

Operating expenses were $62.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2020, compared with $44.5 million in 2019.

Net loss was $41.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 and net loss per share was $1.20 based on a weighted-average basic and diluted share count of 34.4 million, compared with a net loss of $25.1 million and a net loss per share of $1.39 on a weighted-average basic and diluted share count of 18.0 million in 2019.

First Quarter 2021 Outlook

Personalis expects the following for the first quarter of 2021:

Total Company revenues are expected to be approximately $20.3 million
Revenues from biopharma and all other customers, excluding VA MVP, are expected to be in the range of $5.6 million to $7.0 million
Net Loss is expected to be in the range of $14.0 million to $15.0 million
Webcast and Conference Call Information

Personalis will host a conference call to discuss the fourth quarter and full year 2020 financial results after market close on Thursday, February 25, 2021 at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time / 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The conference call can be accessed live over the phone by dialing (866) 220-8061 for U.S. callers or (470) 495-9168 for international callers, using the conference ID: 5065084. The live webinar can be accessed at View Source