Shares of 23andMe Holding Co. ME, fell almost 7% in after-hours trading after the genetic-testing company saw its loss widen for the fiscal fourth quarter, and issued guidance that assumes the loss will widen further.
The company posted a loss of $69.5 million for the three months ended March 31, compared with $67 million a year earlier. The company said its loss was 16 cents a share, compared with 59 cents a share a year earlier. Over that period, the company said its number of shares outstanding used to compute net loss nearly quadrupled.
Sales rose 14% to $100.6 million. The increase was primarily driven by the company’s acquisition of Lemonaid Health as well as higher research-services revenue.
The company noted that within its existing consumer businesses of personal genome service and telehealth, the company is prioritizing the minimization of cash burn over sales growth.
“This coming fiscal year we plan to take a more cautious overall approach to our use of cash, giving priority to the roll out of our next-generation genomic health service, and to advancing our therapeutics efforts,” 23andMe Finance Chief Steve Schoch said in a statement.
The company said it expects post sales of between $260 million and $280 million in fiscal 2023, which will end on March 31, 2023. The company posted revenue of $271.9 million in fiscal 2022.
23andMe said it expects to post a net loss in fiscal 2023 of between $350 million and $370 million, wider than the $217.5 million it posted in fiscal 2022.
The stock fell almost 7% in after-hours trading to $2.70 a share. The stock is down more than 70% over the past 12 months.
Shares of 23andMe began trading in June of last year after merging with a special-purpose acquisition company backed by British billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Group.