Champions Oncology (CSBR) 2027财年第一季度业绩电话会议：营收增长9%，服务利润率达到51%

核心要点

• 2027财年第一财季营收同比增长约9%，从1400万美元增至1520万美元。
• 调整后EBITDA从5.9万美元增至67.1万美元，连续第五个季度实现调整后EBITDA盈利。
• GAAP净亏损约为42.6万美元，其中包括110万美元的非现金费用，上年同期净亏损为52.7万美元。
• 转化肿瘤学服务业务实现营收1430万美元。在第三方放射性标记成本降低及经营杠杆效应的支撑下，该板块利润率从43%提升至51%。
• 数据许可营收达89.3万美元，已超过2026财年全年总和。管理层将这一增长归因于客户群体的扩大。
• Champions Oncology在该季度末拥有约440万美元现金且无债务；本季度消耗现金约50万美元，主要系营运资金变动所致。

关键财务数据

业务与经营表现

转化肿瘤学服务业务得益于已签约研究合同价值加速转化为营收。管理层表示，近期销售质量有所提升，本季度签署合同的转化预期依然强劲。

服务业务的盈利能力同样有所改善。尽管营收有所增加，但肿瘤学业务营收成本反而下降，这主要是因为Champions Oncology将更多放射性标记能力转为自主提供，从而降低了第三方成本。此外，营收增长也带来了额外的经营杠杆效应。

数据业务本季度带来89.3万美元的许可营收。管理层表示，市场对用于AI和机器学习开发决策且具备深度特征描述与临床标注的患者来源数据的稀缺性支撑了相关需求。公司的目标是将数据的应用范围从单项研究预测拓展至生物标志物发现、患者筛选及临床试验设计。

公司旗下的全资药物研发子公司Corellia继续与创投机构及潜在医药合作伙伴展开讨论。管理层表示，支持性数据进一步增强了该项目的说服力。

管理层业绩指引

Champions Oncology未提供2027财年的具体数字业绩预测。管理层表示，其重点仍是推动营收增长、严格控制费用支出，并将增长转化为更高的盈利能力。

公司主要按年度评估数据许可业务，原因在于合同签署的时间节点不尽相同，季度营收预计仍将保持波动。

管理层表示，如果Champions Oncology能够为Corellia争取到外部融资或许可合作，目前投入该业务的资金便可重新调配至数据项目、其他优先增长领域及提升利润。公司未给出达成协议的具体时间表。

风险与关注事项

• 由于合同签署时间并不均衡，不同季度间的数据许可营收可能会出现大幅波动。
• Corellia融资或合作讨论的时间节点及结果仍存在不确定性。
• 随着商业化团队扩张，销售与市场推广费用从180万美元增至300万美元，因此需要更加重视将该项投资转化为营收与利润增长。
• 本季度现金消耗约为50万美元，主要是由于应付账款减少以及应收账款增加。

业绩电话会议完整记录

完整财报电话会议逐字稿

管理层陈述

Operator

Greetings. Welcome to the Champions Oncology First Quarter Fiscal Year 2027 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions]

Please note, this conference is being recorded.

I will now turn the conference over to your host, Rob Brainin, Chief Executive Officer. You may begin.

Robert Brainin

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining our first quarter fiscal 2027 earnings call. I'm Rob Brainin, CEO of Champions Oncology, and I'm joined today by our CFO, David Miller.

Before we begin, I'll remind everyone that today's remarks may include forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially, and you can find more information in our filings with the SEC. When we spoke in July, I said fiscal '26 was an investment year and that the onus was on us to deliver in fiscal 2027.

The first quarter was a strong data point that we're moving in the right direction. Revenue was $15.2 million, compared to $14 million in the first quarter of fiscal '26. Gross margin was 15%, up from 43% in Q1 fiscal '26. Adjusted EBITDA was approximately $700,000 and on a GAAP basis, we reported a net loss of $0.4 million. That included $1.1 million of noncash expense. This represents our fifth consecutive quarter of positive adjusted EBITDA. Both our services business and our data business contributed to that improvement, and I'll touch on them in turn.

Our translational oncology services business generated $14.3 million of revenue in the quarter. And margins in that business held where we want today and the operating discipline we described in July showed up again this quarter. This is the part of Champions that has always been a predictive modeling business. A customer brings us to therapy, we run it through the most clinically relevant models in the industry, and we predict how the drug is likely to behave in patients. The demand environment for that work is healthy, and the quality of our tuber bank continues to be a core reason customers come to us.

We feel good about how we're showing up in the market and look forward to continuing to share updates over the coming quarters as the year goes on. Data licensing revenue was $893,000 in the first quarter. To put that in context, we generated more data revenue in this 1 quarter than in all of fiscal 2026, reflecting the broader base of customers we spent the last year building. Let's look at TOS business, we look at this on an annual basis rather than a quarterly one, though. Contracts closed on their own time lines and what we're very pleased with the progress, revenue will remain lumpy.

Pipeline continues to be robust and the strategic case keeps strengthening. As sponsors lean harder on AI and machine learning to make development decisions, the constraint isn't the model. It's the data underneath it. Deeply characterized clinically annotated, patient-derived data is scarce, and we have it. That's what will let us move from predicting the outcome of one study at a time toward helping sponsors find signatures, select the right patients and design better trials.

On Corellia, our wholly-owned therapeutic subsidiary, we remain encouraged. The external conversations continue with both venture groups and potential pharmaceutical partners and the data we're generating continues to strengthen the case. I'm not going to put a date on any outcome for the same reason I came in July. If we're successful in securing outside funding or licensing partnership, the investment currently flowing into that business would be redeployed toward our other growth initiatives, particularly data and to the bottom line.

In conclusion, fiscal 2026 was an investment year. The first quarter of fiscal 2027 is evidence that those investments are paying off in revenue, in margin and in data as well as progress in our discussions related to Corellia's pipeline. We have 3 more quarters to prove it out in fiscal '27 and we'll be reporting against it in the same way each time.

With that, I'll turn the call over to David to walk through the financials in more detail.

David Miller

Thanks, Rob, and good afternoon, everyone. Our full financial results for the quarter will be filed with the SEC on Form 10-Q on or before September 14. As Rob highlighted, revenue for the first quarter was $15.2 million, an increase of approximately 9% from $14 million in the prior year quarter.

On a GAAP basis, we reported a net loss of approximately $426,000 compared with a net loss from operations of $527,000 a year ago.

Turning to the cash-based operating results as we typically discuss them. Adjusted EBITDA increased to $671,000 from $59,000 in the prior year quarter. This is our fifth consecutive quarter of positive adjusted EBITDA and our focus is on continuing to grow revenue while expanding profitability.

Let me provide a little more detail on the drivers of the quarter, starting with revenue. The improved quality of our sales over the last several quarters resulted in a higher percentage of contracted study value converting to revenue in Q1. Importantly, that trend continued with sales made during the first quarter with expected conversion percentages remaining strong. And as Rob discussed, data license revenue also contributed to the year-over-year growth, reflecting the broader customer base we built last year.

Another meaningful development was the improvement in oncology services margin, which increased to 51% from 43%. The improvement was driven by a few factors. Cost of oncology revenue declined by approximately $500,000 to $7.5 million from $8 million a year ago despite the increase in revenue. The reduction was driven primarily by lower third-party radio labeling costs. As we've discussed over the past year, we've been working to bring those capabilities in-house, resulting in a lower cost structure. Increased revenue also contributed to the margin improvement, reflecting the leverage we have in the business.

Turning to operating expenses. R&D expense was $1.9 million compared with $2.1 million in the prior year quarter. We were able to reduce spending in our core services business, while redirecting resources towards Corellia and our data initiatives.

Sales and marketing expense was $3 million compared with $1.8 million a year ago. As we've discussed previously, we made a deliberate investment last year to expand our commercial organization across both our research services and data businesses. That investment is now reflected in our expense base and our focus is on generating greater revenue and profitability from it.

G&A expense was essentially flat at approximately $2.1 million in both periods.

Turning to cash. We used approximately $500,000 of cash during the quarter, primarily reflecting working capital movements in the ordinary course of business, including a reduction in accounts payable and higher accounts receivable. We ended the quarter with approximately $4.4 million of cash and no debt.

Overall, the quarter demonstrates the operating leverage we've been working towards. Revenue grew, oncology services margin improved significantly and adjusted EBITDA expanded while we continue to support the investments we've made for future growth. We are continuing to build on the foundation established last year with a focus on maintaining expense discipline and converting revenue growth into improved profitability.

With that, I'll turn the call back over to Rob and ask for any questions.

Operator

[Operator Instructions]

We currently have no questions in the queue. I'd like to turn the floor back to Rob Brainin, for any closing remarks.

Robert Brainin

Great. Thank you. Really appreciate. I appreciate everyone dialing in or listening to the recording. As you can tell, we're really encouraged and excited about the progress we've been making and the trajectory of the business. And look forward to in the coming quarters, sharing more about that progress and how we're doing. We'll speak to you then. Have a great afternoon. Thanks.

Operator

Thank you. This concludes today's conference, and you may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.