What happened
Shares of protein sequencing company Quantum-Si (QSI 1.41%) collapsed on Monday after the company reported its financial results for Q2 2023, falling 35.2% through 12:10 p.m. ET.
A recent favorite of tech maven Cathie Wood, who has snapped up more than 3.4 million shares over the last month and a half, Wall Street analysts had pegged Quantum-Si stock for a $400,000 revenue quarter, and a $0.20 per share loss. As it turned out, Quantum-Si's GAAP loss for the quarter was only $0.18 per share, an apparent beat. Actual revenue for the quarter, however, was only half what was expected -- $205,000 total.
NASDAQ: QSI
Key Data Points
So what
That's apparently not the number that growth investors wanted to hear.
Management claimed to have "made great strides in the build out of our commercial team and have received valuable feedback from customers as we continue our thoughtful and controlled commercialization of Platinum." (Platinum is Quantum-Si's single-molecule protein sequencing platform, comprising sequencing hardware, consumable sequencing kits, and software.) And management promised "additional product improvements before the end of 2023."
But investors wanted to see a more rapid uptake of Quantum-Si's product. Instead, what they got was a sequential slowdown in sales, as Q2's revenue actually declined 19% from the $254,000 in sales booked in Q1 -- and losses inched 6% higher.
Now what
Quantum-Si didn't give much solace about the future, either, giving no guidance on full-year revenue or profits, and stating only that it doesn't expect non-GAAP operating expenses to increase in comparison to last year.
On the plus side, that means that if revenue increases, and gross margin holds steady at its present 38% level, then Quantum-Si should move closer to profitability as the year progresses -- but not much closer.
Consider: Quantum-Si's operating costs last year were $114 million. At a 38% gross profit margin on revenue, this means Quantum-Si stock won't be able to break even until it reaches at least $300 million in annual revenue -- a number that analysts don't see happening before 2029 at the earliest.
For Quantum-Si investors, there's still a very long road ahead before anything resembling profitability can be expected.
