Oxford Nanopore Technologies PLC (LSE:ONT) reports results on Tuesday 2 September, with the shares up almost 50% so far this year, with investors looking for details on growth prospects beyond its core research market.
At the last trading update in July, the FTSE 250-listed group said it expects half-year revenue of about £105 million, up 28% at constant currency, driven by 59% growth in sales of its PromethION large-scale sequencing platform.
Applied markets grew 33%, research 22%, with strong regional demand outside the US.
The rise in revenues, with gross margin kept "marginally below" the 58.8% seen a year earlier, meant it "continued to progress on its path to profitability", the company said.
As a preview to the results, analysts at Panmure Liberum said the company’s differentiated gene sequencing platform is well established in research, but opportunities in other markets are less certain.
They noted that headwinds in research have been masked by a switch to capital sales, though said the strong first-half performance was flattered by easy comparatives, though hailed the fact that management has "begun to gain control of its cost base".
The gene sequencing platform is "well established" in research, with other markets developing; however, more granularity on the new opportunities is required given the increasingly competitive gene sequencing market".
The broker initiated coverage with a 'hold' rating and a 200p target price, arguing shares have moved ahead of performance.