Why Shares of MaxCyte Are Plummeting on Thursday

What happened

Shares of MaxCyte (NASDAQ:MXCT) were down more than 21% as of noon on Thursday after the company announced preliminary third-quarter results. So far this year, the healthcare stock is down more than 53%.

So what

Maryland-based MaxCyte focuses on cell-engineering platform technology to serve the biotech industry. In its preliminary report, the cell engineering company lowered its full-year guidance and relayed that it expected lower revenue for the third quarter. That spooked investors, and the stock hit a 52-week low on Thursday morning of $2.53.

The company said it expected third-quarter revenue between $7.8 million and $8 million, down 25% to 27% year over year (YOY). The company cited reduced customer demand for the drop. While strategic partnership license program-related revenue grew to $1.4 million, up from $800,000 in the same period last year, the company says it expects core business revenue was expected to fall 33% to 35% to be between $6.4 million and $6.6 million.

Looking at those lowered numbers, the company dropped guidance for yearly revenue to be between $34 million to $36 million.

Doug Doerfler, MaxCyte's president and CEO, said disposable processing assembly purchases for cell therapy and drug discovery were coming in lower than expected and cell therapy instrument sales were slow as well.

Now what

The lowered guidance shouldn't be a surprise to investors who have been following the company this year. Through six months, the company reported revenue of $17.6 million, down 17% YOY. If you double that number, the company's new guidance is right on point. There's a lot of potential for cell engineering products, but the company, which has not been profitable, is facing increasing competition as well.

10 stocks we like better than MaxCyte
When our analyst team has a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*

They just revealed what they believe are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now... and MaxCyte wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.

See the 10 stocks

*Stock Advisor returns as of October 2, 2023

Jim Halley has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.