What happened
In response to reporting of first-quarter results, shares of Corindus Vascular Robotics (CVRS), a medical device company focused on vascular disease, rose 14% as of 10:45 a.m. EDT on Wednesday.
So what
Here are the key financial numbers from the quarter:
- Revenue doubled to $3 million. That was slightly behind the $3.11 million that Wall Street was expecting.
- Gross profit improved just 50% to $0.6 million, which is a slower rate of growth than revenue.
- Net loss declined slightly to $9.7 million, or $0.05 per share. That was worse than the $0.04 net loss that was expected.
- Cash balance at quarter-end was $37.8 million.
- The company raised $19.8 million during the quarter in a private-placement transaction.
Image source: Getty Images.
The company also shared some nonfinancial updates with investors:
- Corindus received 11 purchase orders for its CorPath GRX Systems. That represents growth of 267% when compared to the year-ago period, albeit off of a very small base.
- The company received European approval for a neurovascular indication, which enables it to sell neurovascular robots in 33 countries.
- Its first purchase order was received in Italy.
Traders appear to be looking past the worse-than-expected quarterly numbers and are focusing their attention on the strong growth in purchase orders.
Now what
Corindus' purchase order growth shows that it continues to make progress with its commercialization efforts. However, the company's financial statements continue to give me pause. The company's bank balance of $37.8 million won't last long if it continues to burn about $10 million per quarter, so investors might want to brace themselves for another capital raise in the not-too-distant future.
I continue to believe that Corindus is an intriguing company, but I would like to see a lot more business traction before I call the stock a buy. Until that happens, I'm content to focus my time and attention on other medical device makers.
