Illumina ($ILMN) boosted its revenue 24% last year thanks to an expanded share of the gene-sequencing market and a deeper dive into diagnostics, and now, thanks in part to the launch of $1,000 genome technology, the company has big expectations for 2014.
Last year, Illumina hauled in $1.4 billion in revenue, above 2012's $1.2 billion, and the San Diego company is projecting between 15% and 17% growth in 2014, good for as much as $1.7 billion. Net income fell about 17% to $125 million on the year thanks to spiking sales costs and a $115 million legal charge tied to a lawsuit lost to Syntrix BioSystems. In the fourth quarter, Illumina boosted revenue 25% to $387 million and posted $81 million in profit, a 12.5% jump.
"The fourth quarter capped off a spectacular year for Illumina with robust performance across all products and geographies," CEO Jay Flatley said in a statement. "We made significant progress on key R&D programs which allowed us to introduce new products in early 2014 that will once again redefine the trajectory of sequencing."
Among those new products is the HiSeq X Ten Sequencing System, a factory-scale set of devices that Illumina says can deliver on the long-promised $1,000 human genome. Considering its cost and scale, the 10-piece sequencing system is largely restricted to institutional customers, but Illumina has nailed down 5 placements since launching the HiSeq X earlier this month: Macrogen, the Broad Institute, the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, the New York Genome Center and, most recently, deCODE Genetics.
At the same time, the company is maintaining a broad focus on diagnostics, signing deals with industry leaders Quest Diagnostics ($DGX) and LabCorp ($LH) to license out its sequencing tech, and teaming up with Amgen ($AMGN) to develop a companion test for in-development cancer therapies.
Illumina's shares have nearly tripled since the start of 2013, giving the company a market value of about $18.3 billion. Back in April 2012, when Illumina was trading at about $52 per share, Roche ($RHHBY) made an unsuccessful attempt to buy the company for roughly $6.5 billion.
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