Biodesix grows earnings but misses Wall Street expectations

BOULDER — The good news for lung cancer diagnostics developer Biodesix Inc. (Nasdaq: BDSX) was that the company grew year-over-year revenue by 180% during the second quarter of 2021.

The bad news? Wall Street analysts expected that growth to be nearly double.

Biodesix posted sales of $11.9 million, up from $4.2 million during the same period last year. 

Wall Street projections for the company’s sales performance were mainly in the $20 million range, sending Biodesix’s stock price into freefall Wednesday. The stock was down 26.32% on the day.

“This business can fluctuate due to several factors including contract timing, which can be longer under normal circumstances, but in this particular instance, reflects the continued impact COVID-19 has had on overall clinical trial enrollment,” Biodesix chief financial officer Robin Cowie said during a conference call with investors and analysts. “Despite the impact it had in our quarter, prospective trials in our biopharmaceutical activities in this area remain robust. We remain confident that we will see further improvements in the coming quarters. Overall, biopharma services remain a significant long-term opportunity for Biodesix, particularly as prospective clinical trials begin to ramp back up.”

All told, the company lost $11.4 million in the second quarter, up from a loss of $8.2 million during that period in 2020. 

“We expect growth in core lung diagnostic testing to continue through 2021 driven by the U.S.’s emergence from the pandemic, productivity from our growing salesforce, and our efforts to build on the body of evidence supporting the use of our tests,” Biodesix CEO Scott Hutton said in a statement accompanying the company’s quarterly report. 

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