NanoString Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:NSTG) Q3 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Brad Gray: Yes. When we look over a long period like the trailing 12-months from the third quarter of 2022 back versus the previous trailing 12-months from the third quarter of 2021 back, they’re very similar. That being said, if you just look at Q3, our pull-through was down sequentially from Q2 to Q3 across all vintages of our GeoMx installed base. So, this particular quarter, even the more mature systems that have been out there a while had lower ordering. And we attribute that to some of the other factors I mentioned in terms of lumpiness, and, you know, the macro effects.

Dan Arias: Okay. Last one for me. Just Tom on CosMx. As orders continue to build here, I’m just curious what would you think about as far as the placement max for 2023? I know talking about 2024 seems a little crazy right now, but just wondering what we need to sort of in our minds pencil in for backlog towards the end of the year there?

Tom Bailey: Yes, I think that in the guidance range that we incurred, it assumes that orders are similar to this year for CosMx, so we deliver about half our backlogs. So, I would suggest that you’d go into 2024 with about 60 give or take in backlog. That’s based on the 40% to 50% range that we talked about. Obviously, we’ll give more explicit commentary in February that could be €“ have some movement around that, but that 40% to 50% would infer about that number, Dan.

Dan Arias: Okay. Thank you, guys.

Operator: Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of with JPMorgan Chase. Your line is now open.

Unidentified Analyst: Hello. Thanks for taking the question. This is on for Julia. So, regarding the order dynamics between GeoMx and CosMx, specifically for your clients, could you provide more color into the customer preferences of which instrument to purchase perhaps by customer type or would you say, it’s more or less equal throughout the various customers? And then how does that compare to your internal expectations?

Brad Gray : I think you’re €“ I had little trouble hearing your question. The first part I know was talking about the preference for CosMx and GeoMx into different customer types. So, I think what we’ve observed so far this year, going back to 2021, we sold quite a few GeoMx systems to both discovery customers and translational customers. So, discovery customers remember when we €“ are those who are doing very basic scientific research, not necessarily focused on curing disease and translational researchers of those who are doing work on human tissues samples for drug development or diagnostic development. So, our GeoMx sales last year were pretty nicely balanced against those two customer segments. This year, those discovery customers have shown a very strong preference for single-cell imaging.

And in fact, CosMx is predominantly going to discovering customers. Now, interest in GeoMx remained strong from translational customers, but given the mix we had last year, which was balanced across the two, we’ve seen a meaningful year-on-year drop in the total number of GeoMx systems .

Unidentified Analyst: . And then, the second question is, you know, we’re seeing a growing number of new entrants in the spatial market, especially with, you know, to the next launches in your new product. Obviously, you have a head start with CosMx, but as you know, these platforms launched, how do you think about those dynamics going forward? And what are your most durable advantages for CosMx versus for ? Thank you.