Myriad Genetics Inc. continues to see its net loss shrink and its revenues rise.
The 850-employee Salt Lake-based biotechnology company on Tuesday reported that its net loss was $7.8 million, or 18 cents per share, for the fiscal fourth quarter ended June 30. That compares with a loss of $11.4 million, or 29 cents per share, for the same quarter a year earlier.
For the most recent fiscal year, Myriad had a loss of $34.9 million, or 85 cents per share, which compares with $38.2 million, or $1.05 per share in the prior fiscal year.
Wall Street's consensus estimates called for the company to have a loss of 19 cents per share for the most recent quarter and 86 cents per share for the full year.
Revenues for the fourth quarter totaled $45.4 million, up from $32 million a year earlier. For the full year, revenues were a company-record $157.1 million, up from $114.3 million in the previous fiscal year.
Revenues for both the fourth quarter and full year topped the consensus Wall Street predictions of $42.9 million and $154.6 million, respectively.
"Myriad's strategy of parallel and complementary commercial paths for our molecular diagnostics and therapeutics businesses continues to produce results," Peter Meldrum, president and chief executive officer, said in a prepared statement.
The revenue strength was led by molecular diagnostic products, which had a record $145.3 million in revenues during the year, up from $100.6 million a year earlier. Fourth-quarter revenue for those products totaled $42.3 million, up from $28.8 million.
Myriad's research and development expense for fiscal 2007 was $100.7 million, up from $83.8 million for the same period in the prior year. The company attributed the rise primarily to advancing its therapeutic development programs in Alzheimer's disease and cancer.
At the end of the most recent quarter, Myriad had about $308 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable investment securities, compared with $228 million a year earlier. The company has no debt and no convertible securities.
Myriad stock fell $1.09 on Tuesday to close at 42.03. During the past year, the price has ranged from 23.15 to 48.20.
In other earnings news involving Utah companies or companies with ties to Utah:
Fonix
Fonix Corp., based in Salt Lake City, reported a net loss attributable to common shareholders of $1.5 million, or breakeven per share, for the quarter ended June 30. That compares with a loss of $4.8 million, or 1 cent per share, for the same quarter in 2006.
Revenues totaled $644,000, up from $367,000 in the prior-year period.
Fonix operates through its wholly owned subsidiary, Fonix Speech Inc., to provide speech recognition and text-to-speech technology.
CirTran
CirTran Corp. reported a net loss of $2.6 million for the second quarter ended March 31. It did not provide per-share information or prior-year-period figures.
Sales totaled $2.9 million, up from $2.2 million in the prior-year quarter.
CirTran is contract manufacturer of information technology, consumer and consumer electronics products.
Nexia Holdings
Nexia Holdings Inc. reported a net loss of $868,384 for the quarter ended June 30. That compares with net income of $1.6 million for the same quarter in 2006.
The company said the losses were primarily due to a one-time gain recognized on the sale of marketable securities of $2.3 million in 2006 that was not realized in 2007.
Revenues totaled $739,610, up from $365,107 in the prior-year quarter.
Nexia is a holding company with operations in the fashion retail, health and beauty and real estate industries.
Target
Target Corp., the second-largest U.S. discount retailer, said profit rose 13 percent on increased sales of health-care items and consumer electronics, and gains from its credit-card unit.
The second-quarter earnings matched analysts' estimates. Target reiterated today that annual profit would climb to about $3.60 a share, a week after Wal-Mart Stores Inc. cut its forecast on concerns about a slowdown in consumer spending.
Staples Inc.
Staples Inc., the world's largest office-supplies retailer, said second-quarter profit rose 11 percent on higher revenue in Europe. The company lowered its annual sales forecast on a slowdown at North American stores.
Staples expects "low double-digit" revenue growth on a percentage basis for the year through Feb. 2, less than the double-digit gain forecast in May. Sales at North American stores open at least a year may be unchanged. Previously Staples said same-store sales may rise in the "low-single" digits.
Overseas revenue climbed 18 percent and supplies sold directly to North American companies rose 16 percent.
E-mail: bwallace@desnews.com