What happened
Investors in Avid Bioservices (CDMO +0.00%) are having a pleasant end to the trading week. The provider of contract development and manufacturing services for biopharma companies is up 32% as of 11:15 a.m. EDT on Friday after the company reported a strong end to its fiscal year.
So what
Here are the headline numbers from the company's fiscal fourth quarter 2019:
- Revenue jumped 146% to $17.1 million. Wall Street was only expecting $15.7 million in total revenue.
- The company generated positive income from operations during the quarter.
- Backlog rose $3 million sequentially to $46 million.
- Gross margin increased to 21%, up from a negative number last year.
- Net loss was $1.1 million, or $0.02 per share. That was a penny better than expected.
- Cash balance at quarter-end was $32.4 million.
Image source: Getty Images.
Zooming out to the full year, here's what happened in the fiscal year:
- Revenue was flat at $53.6 million.
- Gross margin improved to 13%.
- Net loss was $8.9 million, or $0.16 per share.
For fiscal year 2020, management is projecting that revenue will land between $64 million and $67 million. That's slightly behind the $68.8 million that analysts were expecting.
Shares are soaring in response to the positive quarterly results.
Now what
CEO Roger Lias was upbeat about the company's accomplishments in fiscal 2019:
Fiscal 2019 was a fundamentally transformative year for Avid, as the team successfully achieved a number of critical goals. Most notably, we converted the losses and negative margins in fiscal 2018 into a sustainable position of financial strength. Based on our current backlog as well as forecasts from our customers, we believe the company will achieve sustainable growth going forward. Avid is stronger today than it has been at any point in the past.
Lias also noted that the company continues to sign new clients and win more business from existing ones.
Overall, it was a promising quarter all around. With management calling for strong top-line growth in fiscal 2020, shareholders appear to have every reason to be excited about where this company is heading.
