Outlook
Looking ahead for fiscal year 2009, the company now expects fiscal 2009 revenues in the range of $170 million – $190 million, compared to earlier issued forecast of $180 million – $210 million. The company continues to expect loss within a range of $0.60 – $0.85 per share.
First Quarter Results
As of March 31, 2009, TomoTherapy had a revenue backlog of $157 million, down 11% from its $176 million backlog as of December 31, 2008. Backlog only includes firm orders that have installation sites identified and that the company believes are likely to ship within the next two years. The company added $4 million of equipment orders during the first quarter of 2009, but its backlog does not include any revenue from service contracts, which due to the growing installed base, represents a growing portion of the company’s overall revenue.
“Our first quarter financial results were in line with our internal expectations,” said Fred Robertson, TomoTherapy’s chief executive officer. “Despite a continued weak sales environment resulting primarily from tighter capital spending in the U.S. hospital sector, the company increased its cash position in the quarter and maintains a strong balance sheet. Given the current economic environment, we have closely managed costs, with operating expenses down 18% from the first quarter of last year. Importantly, we continue to report improved performance in our service organization. The average cost per service contract declined 11% from the same quarter a year ago, and we reported strong uptime of 97.8% across our installed base during the first quarter of 2009.”
Robertson added, “New orders continue to be impacted by concerns about the economy, especially in the U.S. While we are intently focused on initiatives to drive orders, it is a challenging environment, and we continue to see customers delay their purchasing decisions. Despite the near-term challenges, we remain confident in TomoTherapy’s technology and its future potential. We firmly believe that ours is the most advanced and effective system to deliver high-quality cancer care.”
