BioLife Solutions Inc (BLFS)

[techisbest]

2019 Guidance from the 03-14-2019 conference call...

With respect to our outlook for the full year of 2019, the guidance I'll go through includes the impact of Astero transaction beginning in the second quarter. We expect total revenue for 2019 will be in the range of $27 million to $30 million, reflecting year-over-year growth of 37% to 52%. And we anticipate that Astero will contribute between $1 million and $2 million in revenue this year. Over the next several years, we believe that the Astero products could add 5 to 10 percentage points to our annual revenue growth rate and comprise up to 15% of our total revenue. Our blended gross margin for 2019 should range between 69% to 70%. Although we expect a small reduction in our gross margin going forward as a result of the Astero product line, we believe that the impact will be approximately 100 basis points. Astero's products are manufactured by a California-based CMO and currently have gross margins in the low 60s. With increased volumes, we believe the gross margin related to the thawing product line will climb into the mid-60s.

2019 operating expenses are expected to be in the range of $15.5 million to $16.5 million. Approximately half the increase over 2018 is related to the Astero transaction with the balance primarily related to increased headcount in the sales and marketing and quality areas of the company as well as higher performance-based compensation. Although the Astero purchase will reduce our operating margin somewhat this year, we expect to exit the year in Q4 with an operating profit margin of approximately 20%, which is slightly higher than our full year 2018 level of 18.5%. In subsequent years, we anticipate a sustained trend of increasing operating margins with Astero providing a positive contribution to our adjusted EBITDA within 12 to 18 months. I'd like to end my remarks with a summary of our share count. We currently have 18.7 million common shares issued and outstanding. Our non-affiliate warrant overhang was effectively eliminated during 2018, with only 208,000 of these warrants remaining. Adding insider options and warrants brings our current fully diluted share count to 26 million.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/biolife-solutions-inc-blfs-q4-002622346.html