What happened
In response to its announcement of fiscal fourth-quarter and full-year results, Accuray (ARAY +4.54%), the maker of the CyberKnife Stereotactic Radiosurgery System, saw its shares jump as much 17% in early morning trading on Friday. Shares have since cooled off, but were still up about 6% as of 11:05 a.m. EDT.
So what
Here's a look at the headline numbers from the company's fourth quarter:
- Total revenue increased 1.5% to $113.7 million. The slight jump was driven by a 15% increase in services revenue and a 10% decrease in product revenue.
- Gross product orders jumped 12% to $96.4 million.
- There was a net loss of $0.9 million, or $0.01 per share. For context, Wall Street was expecting a loss of $0.02, so this was a modest beat.
- Cash balance at quarter end was $93 million.
Image source: Getty Images.
Zooming out to the full fiscal year, here are the key takeaways:
- Revenue increased 6% to $405 million.
- The backlog increased 6% to $478.5 million.
- Gross margin expanded 300 basis points to 40%.
- There was a net loss of $23.9 million, or $0.28 per share.
Turning to guidance, here's what management expects to happen in fiscal 2019:
- Revenue is expected to land between $415 million and $425 million. The midpoint of the range is ahead of the $413 million in revenue that Wall Street had projected.
- Adjusted EBITDA is expected to land between $21 million and $27 million. This represents growth of about 23% to 58% on a year-over-year basis.
Traders appear to be applauding the smaller-than-expected loss and the revenue guidance.
Now what
Accuray's stock had fallen by nearly 20% year to date before this earnings release, so today's relief rally makes sense given the better-than-expected revenue guidance. However, the midpoint of that guidance represents growth of about 4% year over year, a figure that I have a hard time getting excited about.
It's also worth pointing out that CFO Kevin Waters announced his decision to leave the company as of Oct. 1 to take a job with a privately held company. That news doesn't exactly fill me with confidence about Accuray's long-term potential.
Overall, I understand why Accuray is moving higher today, but this company doesn't come close to offering the growth potential that I like to see in an investment. For that reason, I have no interest in becoming a shareholder.
