AMRS - Amyris drops 33% as Oppenheimer downgrades after Q3 miss

Amyris, Inc. ( NASDAQ: AMRS ) lost ~33% pre-market Wednesday after announcing lower-than-expected financials for Q3 2022, which prompted Oppenheimer to downgrade the synthetic biotech company to Perform from Outperform.

Oppenheimer noted that the company fell short of its estimates and Street forecasts for product margins and licensing revenue.

Driven by a ~98% YoY rise in Consumer revenue, Amyris ( AMRS ) reported ~49% YoY growth in the top line, which stood at $71.1M, missing the consensus estimates by as much as $20.1M.

While the company's cost-saving measure called "Fit to Win" brought about a $10M improvement in earnings, the non-GAAP gross margin rose to 40% from 37% in the prior year.

"….we are encouraged to see the company executing on its Fit to Win initiative, focused on driving spending efficiency as we believe the company will benefit from incremental spending discipline," Oppenheimer wrote.

However, the GAAP net loss for the period expanded to $161.4M from $32.9M in Q3 2021, partly due to a $14.4M non-cash charge from changes in the fair value of debt and derivatives.

As the company, with bridge financing secured, yields results from several molecule licensing deals, Oppenheimer opts to move to the sidelines seeking "more consistent financial performance and demonstration of reliable operating leverage."

Wall Street has remained bullish on Amyris ( AMRS ) stock, with an average rating of Buy from analysts in line with Seeking Alpha Author ratings. However, Seeking Alpha's Quant System, which consistently beats the market, rated AMRS as a Hold.

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