Codexis handily beats Street consensus in Q3 earnings

In California, Codexis, reported revenues for the third quarter of 2012 of $26.3 million, a 21% decrease from $33.3 million in the third quarter of 2011. Product revenue in the third quarter of 2012 was $7.1 million, a 41% decrease from $12.2 million in the prior year quarter and a 5% sequential increase from $6.8 million in the second quarter of 2012. the third quarter ended September 30, 2012. Net loss was $2.3 million, or a loss of $0.06 per share, based on 37.1 million weighted average common shares outstanding in the third quarter of 2012. This compares to a net loss of $2.7 million, or a loss of $0.08 per share during the third quarter of 2011.

Raymond James energy analyst Pavel Molchanov wrote: ” The net loss of $(0.06) per share was much better than our estimate of $(0.19) and consensus of $(0.18).  Following its (amicable) divorce from Shell, Codexis is in a transitional period as it aims to reposition itself in the fuels and chemicals arena, in addition to growing its base pharma business. Balancing Codexis’ opportunity to be an early mover in cellulosic biofuels with the decidedly hazy commercialization timeline, we maintain our Market Perform rating.

“The 1,500-liter demonstration facility in Italy with partner Chemtex is progressing on track for a mid-2013 startup,” Molchanov added. “Codexis continues to work on its strain, with a particular focus on boosting yield. {Meanwhile} activity is progressing slowly with Raizen, which has yet to give clear targets for Gen2 biofuel scale-up. As we’ve mentioned before, supermajors like Shell invariably move slowly on new technologies, and that is holding true with the Raizen JV.

“As promised, Codexis went about the hard, but crucial work this quarter of strategically realigning the company for its forward growth strategy following the loss of Shell funding,” said John Nicols, President and CEO of Codexis. “In parallel, we are encouraged by solid developments in our pharma business having recently finalized a new, more profitable business arrangement with our manufacturing partner, Arch Pharmalabs. We are also developing early prospects for commercialization partners for our CodeXyme™ cellulase enzymes, which produce cellulosic sugars,” Nicols added.