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SeeThruEquity Issues Special Update on PositiveID Corp. on Second Phase Prototype of Firefly Dx
Accesswire
January 20, 2015 9:00 AM
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NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / January 20, 2015 / SeeThruEquity, a leading independent equity research and corporate access firm focused on smallcap and microcap public companies, today announced that it has issued a special update on PositiveID Corp. (PSID) highlighting recent developments at the company including the news of completion of the design of the second phase prototype for the company's Firefly Dx product.
The report is available here: PSID Update Note. SeeThruEquity is an approved equity research contributor on Thomson First Call, Capital IQ, FactSet, and Zack's. The report will also be available on these platforms.
Founded in 2001, PositiveID Corporation develops molecular diagnostic systems for bio-threat detection and rapid medical testing. The Company also develops fully automated pathogen detection systems and assays to detect a range of biological threats at high-value locations. The Company's M-BAND (Microfluidic Bio-agent Autonomous Networked Detector) system is an airborne bio-threat detection system developed for the homeland defense industry, to detect biological weapons of mass destruction. The Company is also developing the Firefly Dx, an automated pathogen detection systems for rapid diagnostics, both for clinical and point of need applications. PSID has a substantial portfolio of intellectual property related to sample preparation and rapid medical testing applications.
On January 14, 2015, the company announced that it had completed the design of the second-phase (bench-top) prototype - the first major milestone in the development of the Firefly Dx second phase prototype. We view this as a significant operations update; PositiveID has begun to build the second-phase prototype, which should be complete during the first half of 2015. We were also pleased to see the company announce it had entered into a strategic financing of $4mn that should enabled the company to bring its Firefly technology to field testing and commercialization. Finally, the company reiterated its revenue guidance for the remainder of 2014E and 2015E in a range of $4mn to $10mn, in line with our outlook.
Additional highlights from the note are as follows:
New design for Firefly Dx complete
We were pleased to see that PositiveID has completed the design of the second-phase Firefly Dx second phase prototype. The Firefly Dx is an innovative diagnostic device that is central to the company's growth prospects along with its M-BAND system, which is an airborne biothreat detection system. The Firefly is a real-time, handheld polymerase chain reaction (PCR) pathogen detection system that can be used in the field to detect biological threats without the use of bulky lab equipment. Due to its ease of use and potential to be deployed in the field, the Firefly has potential applications in numerous markets including healthcare, defense and food safety, among others. As we noted in our initiation, the company has estimated that the Firefly targets a potential market opportunities with a cumulative value of over $10bn.
Strategic financing paves way for development
PositiveID announced that a new capital raise of $4mn that management believes will enable the company to complete field testing and commercial development of the second-phase Firefly Dx. PositiveID ended the third quarter with $0.4mn in cash on hand, and we see the capital raise as a prudent move that will lessen financial risk for the company in the short run while allowing management to focus on execution and product development. The funding will be in the form of senior secured convertible notes to an institutional investor, which will accrue interest at 12% per annum.
3Q14 results and guidance show continued progress
PositiveID reported results in line with our expectations on the top line, with revenue coming in at $0.3mn and increased its estimated 2014 /2015 revenue and backlog estimate to $3.6mn. We note that if the company achieves the midpoint its guidance range ($4mn - $10mn over the next five quarters), it will achieve significant growth over our projected revenue of $1.1mn in 2014E, establishing a solid revenue base as it heads into 2016E.
Price target remains $0.48
Our price target for PositiveID remains $0.48, representing significant potential for upside if achieved. We are encouraged by the milestones achieved by the company and the guidance for 2015E. We see many potential catalysts for PositiveID on the horizon including the completion of the prototype as well as anticipated strong revenue growth in 2015E.
Please review important disclosures on our website at www.seethruequity.com.
About PositiveID Corporation
PositiveID Corporation ("PSID") is a Florida based company focused on the development of biological detection systems for America's homeland defense industry as well as rapid medical testing. PositiveID is focused on the development of microfluidic systems for the automated preparation of and performance of biological assays in order to detect biological threats at high-value locations, as well as analyze samples in a medical environment. The Company's M-BAND (Microfluidic Bio-agent Autonomous Networked Detector) system is an airborne bio-threat detection system developed for the homeland defense industry, to detect biological weapons of mass destruction.
For more information, visit www.positiveidcorp.com.
About SeeThruEquity
SeeThruEquity is an equity research and corporate access firm focused on companies with less than $1 billion in market capitalization. The research is not paid for and is unbiased. We do not conduct any investment banking or commission based business. We are approved to contribute our research to Thomson One Analytics (First Call), Capital IQ, FactSet, Zacks and distribute our research to our database of opt-in investors. We also contribute our estimates to Thomson Estimates, the leading estimates platform on Wall Street.
