Akoya Biosciences Reports Third Quarter 2024 Financial Results

Rhea-AI Summary

Akoya Biosciences (NASDAQ: AKYA) reported Q3 2024 financial results with revenue of $18.8 million, marking a 25% decrease from Q3 2023. Gross margin improved to 62.3% from 60.6% year-over-year. Operating expenses decreased 25% to $20.1 million, while loss from operations improved 28% to $8.3 million. The company ended Q3 with $39.3 million in cash and equivalents. The installed base grew 15% year-over-year to 1,299 instruments. Due to persistent macro challenges, Akoya revised its full-year 2024 revenue guidance to $80-85 million, down from previous $96-104 million range. The company is evaluating strategic alternatives for sustainable growth.

Positive

• Gross margin improved to 62.3% from 60.6% YoY
• Operating expenses reduced by 25% to $20.1 million
• Loss from operations improved by 28% to $8.3 million
• Instrument installed base grew 15% YoY to 1,299 units
• Publication citations increased 47% YoY to 1,578

Negative

• Revenue declined 25% YoY to $18.8 million in Q3 2024
• YTD revenue decreased 14% to $60.3 million
• Significant downward revision of 2024 revenue guidance from $96-104M to $80-85M
• Ongoing capital equipment purchase constraints affecting sales
• Company required organizational restructuring to address market headwinds

Insights

Financial Analyst

The Q3 results reveal significant challenges with $18.8M revenue marking a concerning 25% YoY decline. Despite improved gross margins at 62.3%, the reduced revenue guidance of $80-85M from $96-104M signals serious market headwinds. The 25% reduction in operating expenses to $20.1M through restructuring shows proactive cost management, but hasn't fully offset the revenue decline. With $39.3M cash on hand and exploring strategic alternatives, the company's pursuit of profitability faces heightened uncertainty. The 15% growth in installed base to 1,299 instruments provides some foundation for future recovery, but near-term challenges persist in the capital equipment market.

Market Research Analyst

The spatial biology market dynamics show mixed signals. While Akoya's publication citations grew 47% to 1,578, indicating strong scientific validation, the capital spending constraints are severely impacting equipment sales. The new product launches at SITC, including the PhenoCode Discovery IO60 Panel and expanded molecular barcode catalog, demonstrate innovation but may face adoption hurdles in the current environment. The MANIFEST program selection highlights institutional credibility, but may not translate to immediate revenue impact. Market recovery isn't expected until 2025, suggesting prolonged pressure on capital equipment sales.

MARLBOROUGH, Mass., Nov. 14, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Akoya Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: AKYA) (“Akoya”), The Spatial Biology Company®, today announced its financial results for the third quarter ending September 30, 2024.

“Our third-quarter results came in below expectations, largely due to ongoing capital equipment purchase constraints seen across the life science tools market. We remain optimistic about the long-term growth outlook of our industry, but we recognize the current environment will pose temporary challenges. We proactively anticipated this with our recent organizational restructuring, which, while difficult and temporarily disruptive this quarter, was the right decision and enhanced our readiness to absorb the headwinds we are facing,” said Brian McKelligon, CEO of Akoya Biosciences. “We remain confident that Akoya’s technologies will continue to be the preferred platform in the spatial biology market from discovery to diagnostics, supporting a return to topline growth in 2025, and beyond, and achievement of our profitability goals.”

Third Quarter 2024 Financial Results

• For the third quarter of 2024, revenue was $18.8 million, a 25% year-over-year decrease from $25.2 million in the third quarter of 2023.
• For the third quarter of 2024, gross margin was 62.3%, an improvement on the gross margin of 60.6% in the third quarter of 2023.
• For the third quarter of 2024, operating expenses were $20.1 million, a 25% year-over-year improvement on operating expenses of $26.8 million in the third quarter of 2023.
• For the third quarter of 2024, loss from operations was $8.3 million, a 28% year-over-year improvement on loss from operations of $11.6 million in the third quarter of 2023.
• $39.3 million of cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities as of September 30, 2024.
  

Third Quarter 2024 Business Updates

• Ended the third quarter of 2024 with an instrument installed base of 1,299 (388 PhenoCyclers, 911 PhenoImagers), a year-over-year increase of 15% compared to an installed base of 1,132 in the prior year period (327 PhenoCyclers, 805 PhenoImagers).
• As of September 30, 2024, there were 1,578 total publications citing Akoya’s technology, compared to 1,070 total publications in the prior year period, a 47% increase.
• At the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer Conference (SITC) which took place November 6-10, Akoya announced three new product offerings enabled by our Manufacturing Center of Excellence that we believe will drive continued growth in reagent revenue.
  • First, Akoya introduced the PhenoCode™ Discovery IO60 Panel, an ultra-high-plex panel for immune-oncology research targeting 60 biomarkers using off-the-shelf antibodies.
  • Additionally, Akoya unveiled a new mouse FFPE IO panel, optimized for pre-clinical immune-oncology applications to drive translational research insights.
  • Lastly, Akoya expanded our PhenoCode catalogue of molecular barcodes to enable routine ultra-high-plex of 100-biomarker spatial experiments.
• Akoya announced the selection of its spatial proteomics platforms, PhenoCycler-Fusion and PhenoImager HT, for the UK-wide MANIFEST program, a multi-million-dollar initiative led by the Francis Crick Institute and the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, focused on evaluating thousands of patient samples to better understand responses to cancer immunotherapy.
• On October 2, 2024, Scott Mendel was appointed as Chairman of the Board of Directors. Mr. Mendel has served as a member of Akoya’s Board of Directors since June 2021 and brings with him over 30 years of financial and operational management experience.

YTD 2024 Financial Results

• YTD 2024 revenue was $60.3 million, compared to $70.1 million in the prior year period; a 14% decrease.
• YTD 2024 reported gross margin was 55.5% while non-GAAP adjusted gross margin was 58.9% when excluding the write-off from discontinued legacy products in the first quarter of 2024. Both GAAP and non-GAAP gross margin were 56.6% in the prior year period of 2023.
• YTD 2024 operating expenses were $74.5 million while non-GAAP operating expenses were $68.4 million when excluding the impairment charge for facility consolidation and restructuring associated with a reduction in force in the first quarter and third quarter of 2024. Both GAAP and non-GAAP operating expenses were $87.9 million in the prior year period of 2023.
• YTD 2024 loss from operations was $41.0 million while non-GAAP loss from operations was $32.9 million excluding the items noted above. Both GAAP and non-GAAP loss from operations were $48.2 million in the prior year period of 2023.

2024 Financial Outlook

Due to persistent macro challenges during the year, Akoya expects revenue for the full year 2024 to now be in the range of $80 million to $85 million versus a prior range of $96 million to $104 million. As part of our ongoing commitment to maximizing shareholder value, the company is also actively evaluating a range of strategic alternatives to identify the best path forward for sustainable growth, profitability and long-term success.

Webcast and Conference Call Details

Akoya will host a conference call today, November 14, 2024, at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time to discuss its third quarter 2024 financial results. Investors interested in listening to the conference call are required to register online. A live webcast of the conference call will be available on the “Investors” section of the Company's website at https://investors.akoyabio.com/. The webcast will be archived on the website following the completion of the call for three months.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

In addition to reporting financial measures in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”), Akoya is including in this press release “non-GAAP adjusted gross profit,” “non-GAAP adjusted gross margin,” “non-GAAP operating expense,” and “non-GAAP loss from operations,” all of which are non-GAAP financial measures. Akoya defines non-GAAP adjusted gross profit as gross profit margin adjusted for certain excess and obsolete inventory charges. Non-GAAP adjusted gross margin is defined as non-GAAP adjusted gross profit divided by total revenue. Akoya defines non-GAAP operating expense as operating expense adjusted for impairment and restructuring charges. Akoya defines non-GAAP loss from operations as loss from operations adjusted for certain excess and obsolete inventory charges, impairment, and restructuring charges.

Akoya includes these non-GAAP financial measures because it believes they allow investors to understand and evaluate the Company’s core operating performance and trends. In particular, the exclusion of certain items in calculating non-GAAP adjusted gross profit, non-GAAP adjusted gross margin, non-GAAP operating expense, and non-GAAP loss from operations can provide useful measures for period-to-period comparisons of the Company’s core business. These non-GAAP financial measures have limitations as analytical tools, including the fact that such non-GAAP financial measures may not be comparable to similarly titled measures presented by other companies because other companies may calculate non-GAAP adjusted gross profit, non-GAAP adjusted gross margin, non-GAAP operating expense, and non-GAAP loss from operations differently than Akoya does. For more information regarding these non-GAAP financial measures, see the tables included at the end of this press release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements that are based on management’s beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to management. All statements contained in this release other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, including statements regarding our expectations for full year 2024 revenue, our ability to achieve market acceptance of our current and planned products and services, our growth prospects, and other statements regarding our business strategies, use of capital, results of operations, financial performance and plans and objectives for future operations.

In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the words “may,” “will,” “could,” “would,” “should,” “expect,” “intend,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “project,” “potential,” “continue,” “ongoing” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. These statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements to be materially different from the information expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and other factors are described under "Risk Factors," "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" and elsewhere in the documents we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time. We caution you that forward-looking statements are based on a combination of facts and factors currently known by us and our projections of the future, about which we cannot be certain. As a result, the forward-looking statements may not prove to be accurate. The forward-looking statements in this press release represent our views as of the date hereof. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements for any reason, except as required by law.

About Akoya Biosciences

As The Spatial Biology Company®, Akoya Biosciences’ mission is to bring context to the world of biology and human health through the power of spatial phenotyping. The Company offers comprehensive single-cell imaging solutions that allow researchers to phenotype cells with spatial context and visualize how they organize and interact to influence disease progression and response to therapy. Akoya offers a full continuum of spatial phenotyping solutions to serve the diverse needs of researchers across discovery, translational and clinical research: PhenoCode™ Panels and PhenoCycler®, PhenoImager® Fusion and PhenoImager HT Instruments. To learn more about Akoya, visit www.akoyabio.com.

AKOYA BIOSCIENCES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARY
Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets (unaudited)
(in thousands)

		September 30, 2024			December 31, 2023
Assets
Current assets
Cash and cash equivalents		$	12,557		$	83,125
Marketable securities			23,339			—
Accounts receivable, net			12,786			16,994
Inventories, net			25,212			17,877
Prepaid expenses and other current assets			2,967			3,794
Total current assets			76,861			121,790
Property and equipment, net			7,546			10,729
Marketable securities, net of current portion			3,399			—
Demo inventory, net			792			893
Intangible assets, net			15,272			17,412
Goodwill			18,262			18,262
Operating lease right of use assets, net			4,664			8,365
Financing lease right of use assets, net			1,763			1,562
Other non-current assets			1,414			1,356
Total assets		$	129,973		$	180,369
Liabilities and Stockholders’ Equity
Current liabilities
Accounts payable, accrued expenses and other current liabilities		$	18,128		$	25,209
Current portion of operating lease liabilities			2,651			2,681
Current portion of financing lease liabilities			1,026			767
Deferred revenue			6,188			6,688
Total current liabilities			27,993			35,345
Deferred revenue, net of current portion			3,093			3,193
Long-term debt, net			75,902			75,254
Contingent consideration liability, net of current portion			3,859			5,765
Operating lease liabilities, net of current portion			4,562			6,238
Financing lease liabilities, net of current portion			778			766
Other long-term liabilities			153			38
Total liabilities			116,340			126,599
Total stockholders' equity			13,633			53,770
Total liabilities and stockholders' equity		$	129,973		$	180,369

AKOYA BIOSCIENCES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARY
Consolidated Statements of Operations (unaudited)
(in thousands, except share and per share amounts)

		Three months ended								Nine months ended
		September 30,				September 30,				September 30,				September 30,
		2024				2023				2024				2023
Revenue:
Product revenue		$	12,298			$	18,048			$	40,364			$	50,719
Service and other revenue			6,516				7,167				19,964				19,427
Total revenue			18,814				25,215				60,328				70,146
Cost of goods sold:
Cost of product revenue			4,430				6,208				17,620				19,747
Cost of service and other revenue			2,660				3,731				9,219				10,714
Total cost of goods sold			7,090				9,939				26,839				30,461
Gross profit			11,724				15,276				33,489				39,685
Operating expenses:
Selling, general and administrative			14,672				20,251				53,629				67,281
Research and development			4,474				6,314				15,316				19,614
Change in fair value of contingent consideration			(763	)			262				(496	)			1,019
Impairment			—				—				2,971				—
Restructuring			1,690				—				3,087				—
Total operating expenses			20,073				26,827				74,507				87,914
Loss from operations			(8,349	)			(11,551	)			(41,018	)			(48,229	)
Other income (expense):
Interest expense			(2,625	)			(2,239	)			(7,843	)			(6,468	)
Interest income			521				1,074				2,126				2,576
Other expense, net			(36	)			(185	)			(277	)			(338	)
Loss before provision for income taxes			(10,489	)			(12,901	)			(47,012	)			(52,459	)
Provision for income taxes			(44	)			(15	)			(154	)			(62	)
Net loss		$	(10,533	)		$	(12,916	)		$	(47,166	)		$	(52,521	)
Net loss per share attributable to common stockholders, basic and diluted		$	(0.21	)		$	(0.26	)		$	(0.96	)		$	(1.23	)
Weighted-average shares outstanding, basic and diluted			49,503,272				48,975,432				49,370,959				42,686,065

AKOYA BIOSCIENCES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARY
Gross Profit to Non-GAAP Adjusted Gross Profit Reconciliation and Calculation of Gross Margin and Non-GAAP Adjusted Gross Margin (unaudited)
(in thousands)

		Three months ended								Nine months ended
		September 30,				September 30,				September 30,				September 30,
		2024				2023				2024				2023
Total revenue		$	18,814			$	25,215			$	60,328			$	70,146
Gross profit			11,724				15,276				33,489				39,685
Provision for excess and obsolete inventories - product discontinuation and lease exit inventory charges			—				—				2,045				—
Non-GAAP adjusted gross profit		$	11,724			$	15,276			$	35,534			$	39,685
Gross margin			62	%			61	%			56	%			57	%
Non-GAAP adjusted gross margin			62	%			61	%			59	%			57	%

AKOYA BIOSCIENCES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARY
Operating Expense to Non-GAAP Operating Expense Reconciliation (unaudited)
(in thousands)

		Three months ended							Nine months ended
		September 30,				September 30,			September 30,				September 30,
		2024				2023			2024				2023
Operating expenses		$	20,073			$	26,827		$	74,507			$	87,914
Impairment			—				—			(2,971	)			—
Restructuring			(1,690	)			—			(3,087	)			—
Non-GAAP operating expenses		$	18,383			$	26,827		$	68,449			$	87,914

AKOYA BIOSCIENCES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARY
Loss From Operations to Non-GAAP Loss From Operations Reconciliation (unaudited)
(in thousands)

		Three months ended								Nine months ended
		September 30,				September 30,				September 30,				September 30,
		2024				2023				2024				2023
Loss from operations		$	(8,349	)		$	(11,551	)		$	(41,018	)		$	(48,229	)
Provision for excess and obsolete inventories - product discontinuation and lease exit inventory charges			—				—				2,045				—
Impairment			—				—				2,971				—
Restructuring			1,690				—				3,087				—
Non-GAAP loss from operations		$	(6,659	)		$	(11,551	)		$	(32,915	)		$	(48,229	)

FAQ

What was Akoya Biosciences (AKYA) revenue in Q3 2024?

Akoya Biosciences reported revenue of $18.8 million in Q3 2024, representing a 25% decrease from $25.2 million in Q3 2023.

What is Akoya Biosciences (AKYA) revised revenue guidance for 2024?

Akoya revised its full-year 2024 revenue guidance to $80-85 million, down from the previous guidance of $96-104 million, citing persistent macro challenges.

How many installed instruments does Akoya Biosciences (AKYA) have as of Q3 2024?

As of Q3 2024, Akoya had 1,299 installed instruments (388 PhenoCyclers, 911 PhenoImagers), representing a 15% increase from 1,132 in the prior year.