Cerus (CERS) Announces Preliminary Q4, FY Product Revenue

Cerus Corporation (Nasdaq: CERS) announced today preliminary product revenue for the fourth quarter and full year 2019 and provided 2020 product revenue guidance.

Cerus’ unaudited preliminary product revenue for the fourth quarter of 2019 totaled $20.9 million, an increase of 27%, compared to the $16.5 million recognized during the same period in the prior year. Based on its fourth quarter unaudited preliminary product revenue, the Company expects full year 2019 product revenue of $74.6 million, at the top end of the Company’s most recent 2019 product guidance range of $72 million to $75 million. The preliminary product revenue results have not been audited and are subject to change.

(*Consensus sees Q4 revenue of $24.72 million)

Preliminary fourth quarter product revenue would represent the highest quarterly product revenue ever reported by Cerus.

“We finished 2019 with momentum with preliminary fourth quarter product revenue up 27% driven by strong INTERCEPT platelet kit demand in North America and platelet and plasma kit demand in EMEA. We expect the robust sales growth experienced during the past year to continue into 2020 driven in part by the need for U.S. blood centers and hospitals to comply with the final FDA guidance document on bacterial safety,” said William ‘Obi’ Greenman, Cerus’ president and chief executive officer.

“We are looking forward to an exciting year as we continue to help our blood center partners safeguard their blood component production against known and unknown infectious disease. With the planned increase in product revenue and margins, and continued leverage we expect from our SG&A investments, we anticipate lower cash use from operations during 2020 compared to 2019. In addition, we are looking forward to the anticipated expansion of our product portfolio with our first biologic therapeutic product, pathogen-reduced cryoprecipitate, which has been granted FDA breakthrough device designation for the treatment of critically bleeding patients. An anticipated U.S. regulatory submission is planned for the first half of 2020, with a potential approval decision in the second half of the year,” continued Greenman.

Given the 2019 strength and anticipated increase in platelet kit demand as U.S. blood centers become compliant with the FDA guidance document, the Company expects full year 2020 product revenue will be in the range of $89 million to $93 million, representing growth of approximately 20% to 25% compared to preliminary unaudited 2019 full year results.

Cerus will provide complete fourth quarter and full year 2019 financial results and host a call to discuss both 2019 results and 2020 expectations in late February.

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