Avinger posts loss on disappointing sales

Avinger (NSDQ:AVGR) today posted a second-quarter losses-per-share that missed an analyst’s expectation, sending its share price down on Wall Street despite nearly halving its losses.

The Redwood City, Calif.-based medical device maker reported losses of -$6.6 million, or -98¢ per share, on sales of $2.1 million for the three months ended June 30, 2018. That compares with losses of -$12.8 million during Q2 2017 and amounts to a -14% top-line slide.

An analyst on The Street was looking for losses per share of -0.48¢ on sales of $2.6 million.

Positive news for the quarter included FDA clearance and initial sales of the company’s next-generation Pantheris image-guided atherectomy device and successful treatment of patients in several centers throughout the U.S. Avinger raised an additional $3.55 million in July 2018 from the sale of securities under a registered direct offering and hired new chief medical and financial officers.

“Receiving FDA clearance for our next generation Pantheris 3.0 was a key highlight of the second quarter and a significant milestone for Avinger. Following successful cases and positive physician feedback in initial U.S. sites, we are now focused on the commercial rollout of this next generation device to our installed base of accounts,” said Jeff Soinski, Avinger’s president & CEO, in a prepared statement. “We delivered strong sequential quarter revenue growth and made significant progress on the development of our pipeline products and in our clinical programs during the second quarter. We also added new capital to our balance sheet and made important new additions to our senior leadership team in recent months. I am pleased with the progress we are making as we return the company to growth and excited about our prospects for the future.”

Avinger’s share price fell by 6% to $1.20 at midday, nearly 10 times lower than one year ago.