Myriad Genetics ($MYGN) beat Street estimates in the last quarter, notching double-digit growth in income and revenue and ticking up its annual earnings guidance.
The diagnostics company recorded $30.1 million in net income, 20% over last year, and $133.4 million in revenue, a 21% jump. The results outpace Zachs' consensus analyst estimates, and Myriad increased its fiscal year projected revenue by $20 million, expecting between $570 million and $585 million.
Myriad's molecular diagnostics business pulled in $127.3 million, buoyed by increasing demand for the company's BRACAnalysis test, a gene expression assay that can determine a woman's risk of developing breast cancer. That test alone nabbed $105 million in sales, a 17% leap over the last year. The company's upstart companion diagnostics business dropped 4.6% to $6.2 million in revenue, largely the result of a $300,000 increase in related costs.
BRACAnalysis sales accounted for 78.7% of Myriad's revenue last quarter, and, thanks to a legal victory, the test is likely to keep lining its inventors' pockets. In August, a federal court affirmed Myriad's right to patent gene isolation, leaving the cash cow intact.
The court battle is hardly over, however, as opponents are petitioning the Supreme Court to take up the issue, claiming that making naturally occurring materials patentable sets a dangerous precedent that could hamper future research. In the meantime, though, Myriad is probably content to soar on its diagnostics success.
- read Myriad's release