Solazyme Stuns Investors With Bottom Line Beat

Solazyme Inc. (NASDAQ: SZYM) reported its fourth-quarter financial results after the markets closed on Monday. The company said it had a net loss of $0.32 per share on $10.4 million in revenue, compared to consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters that called for a net loss of $0.43 per share on $11.33 million in revenue. The same period from the previous year had a net loss of $0.45 per share on $14.50 million in revenue.

Separately, the company announced that it signed a definitive multiyear global supply agreement with Unilever. The five-year, multi-oil supply agreement provides for Unilever to purchase renewable algae oils for use in personal care products and is expected to represent total revenue of more than $200 million over the term of the agreement.

This agreement follows last week’s announcement that Solazyme is refining its business to focus on food, nutrition and specialty ingredients, harnessing the power of its transformational algae innovation platform. Solazyme has been renamed “TerraVia” to reflect this focus and the journey to improve the lives of people and the planet.
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Jonathan Wolfson, CEO, commented:

As announced last week, we are moving forward with a refined focus on our food, nutrition and specialty ingredients portfolio, and we are actively transitioning to the TerraVia banner. Today’s important announcement with Unilever, in conjunction with the recent expansion of our joint venture with Bunge into sustainable and healthier foods, shows that the two companies who know us best are reaffirming and expanding their commitments with us, representing further validation of our products, manufacturing capabilities, cost structure and sustainability profile. In an era when most of the innovation taking place in food is in the reformulation, repackaging, and marketing of existing products and ingredients, we are different in that we have built and offer true innovation with new, and unique ingredients based on algae, the mother of all plants, and earth’s original superfood. As TerraVia, we are today uniquely positioned to bring algae into the mainstream in food, nutrition and specialty ingredients.

On the books, cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities totaled $97.98 million at the end of the quarter, compared to $207.31 million in the same period last year.

Shares of Solazyme closed Monday down 4.5% at $1.90, with a consensus analyst price target of $3.17 and a 52-week trading range of $1.18 to $4.74. Following the release of the earnings report, the stock was up nearly 37% at $2.60.