On May 9, 2019 Guardant Health, Inc. (Nasdaq: GH), a leading precision oncology company focused on helping conquer cancer globally through use of its proprietary blood tests, vast data sets and advanced analytics, reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2019 (Press release, Guardant Health, MAY 9, 2019, View Source [SID1234536067]).
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Total revenue for the first quarter of 2019 was $36.7 million, a 120% increase over the first quarter of 2018. Revenue was recognized in accordance with a new revenue recognition standard ("ASC 606"), which the company adopted effective January 1, 2019. Without the adoption of ASC 606, total revenue for the first quarter of 2019 would have been $37.6 million, a 126% increase over the first quarter of 2018

Reported 9,521 tests to clinical customers and 3,762 tests to biopharmaceutical customers in the first quarter, representing increases of 31% and 61% respectively, over the first quarter 2018

Draft local coverage determination proposed by Palmetto GBA that will potentially expand Medicare coverage of the Guardant360 assay to over a dozen advanced solid tumor cancer types with guideline-recommended genomic targets, pending final publication

NILE study results published in Clinical Cancer Research demonstrated Guardant360’s concordance to tissue testing in advanced NSCLC

Acquired Bellwether Bio, Inc., a privately held company focused on improving oncology patient care through its pioneering research into the epigenomic content of cell free DNA

Planning to initiate a prospective colorectal screening study of over 10,000 patients in the second half of 2019
"During the first quarter of 2019, we made important headway on several key initiatives," said Helmy Eltoukhy, PhD, Chief Executive Officer. "We are encouraged by the momentum we are seeing with continued adoption of Guardant360 and GuardantOMNI in the advanced cancer setting and the progress we are making with our LUNAR program in proving out the feasibility of our liquid biopsy platform for early cancer management and early detection."
First Quarter 2019 Financial Results
ASC 606 primarily impacted the company’s recognition of revenue related to patient claims paid by third-party commercial and governmental payors. The company adopted ASC 606 using the modified retrospective method, which means that the total amount of revenue reported for first quarter 2018 has not been restated in the current financial statements. Instead, the accumulated difference resulting from applying the new revenue standard to all contracts that were not completed as of adoption was recorded to accumulated deficit as of January 1, 2019.
Total revenue was $36.7 million for the three months ended March 31, 2019, a 120% increase from $16.7 million for the three months ended March 31, 2018. Without the adoption of ASC 606, total revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2019 would have been $37.6 million, a 126% increase over the first quarter of 2018. Precision oncology revenue increased 103% driven by higher testing volume and increased revenue per test. There were 9,521 clinical tests and 3,762 biopharmaceutical tests performed during the first quarter of 2019.
Gross profit, or total revenue less cost of precision oncology testing and cost of development services, was $23.1 million for the first quarter of 2019, an increase of $15.7 million from $7.4 million in the corresponding prior year period. Gross margin, or gross profit divided by total revenue, was 63.1% as compared to 44.6% in the corresponding prior year period.
Total operating expenses were $46.8 million for the first quarter of 2019, as compared to $26.1 million in the corresponding prior year period, an increase of 79%.
Net loss attributable to Guardant Health, Inc. common stockholders was $26.1 million in the first quarter of 2019, which included a charge of $4.7 million for an increase in the fair value of the redeemable noncontrolling interest in our joint venture with SoftBank, as compared to $13.8 million in the corresponding prior year period. Net loss per share attributable to Guardant Health, Inc. common stockholders was $0.30 in the first quarter of 2019, as compared to $1.16 in the corresponding prior year period.
Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities were $492.8 million as of March 31, 2019.
2019 Financial Guidance

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Guardant Health now expects full year 2019 total revenue to be in the range of $145 million to $150 million, representing 60% to 65% growth over full year 2018. This compares to the company’s previous full year 2019 total revenue guidance of $130 to $135 million.
Webcast and Conference Call Information
Guardant Health will host a conference call to discuss the first quarter 2019 financial results after market close on Thursday, May 9, 2019 at 4:30 PM Eastern Time. The conference call can be accessed live over the phone (866) 417-5537 for U.S. callers or (409) 217-8233 for international callers (Conference ID: 4891017). The webcast can be accessed at View Source