Vericel Trips Over Earnings

Vericel Corp. (NASDAQ: VCEL) reported its fourth-quarter financial results before the markets opened on Monday. The company said it had a net loss of $0.28 per share on $15.4 million in revenue, which compares to consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters of a net loss of $0.15 per share on revenue of $17.36 million. In the same period of last year, the company posted a per-share net loss of $0.17 and $14.71 million in revenue.

Total revenues for the fourth quarter and year ended 2015 were generated primarily from net sales of Carticel implants and surgical kits and Epicel.

During the fourth quarter, this company received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of the Epicel (cultured epidermal autografts) HDE supplement, which revised the Epicel product label to include pediatric patients and specify the probable survival benefit for adult and pediatric patients treated with Epicel, and allows the company to sell Epicel for profit on up to 360,400 grafts per year.

Also in the fourth quarter, positive top-line results were announced from the Phase 2b ixCELL-DCM clinical trial of ixmyelocel-T in patients with heart failure due to ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy.
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Nick Colangelo, president and CEO of Vericel, commented:

2015 was an extremely productive year during which we completed our corporate transformation into a sustainable and growing commercial enterprise, substantially increased revenues and gross margins, and made significant progress on our clinical and regulatory objectives that we expect will drive current and long-term growth for the company. We believe that we have positioned the company as one of the leading cell therapy and regenerative medicine companies in the industry.

On the books, the company had $14.58 million in cash and cash equivalents at the end of the quarter, compared to $30.34 million in the same period of last year.

Shares of Vericel were trading down 9% at $3.94 on Monday, with a consensus analyst price target of $10.22 and a 52-week trading range of $1.69 to $5.18.