Earnings preview: Will Arcadia Biosciences turn profitable in Q2

Arcadia Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ: RKDA) is scheduled to report its earnings results for the second quarter on Wednesday after the market closes. The food ingredient company’s results will be hurt by the change in the fair value of common stock warrant and common stock adjustment feature liabilities. Meanwhile, the stock skyrocketed after approval of soybeans suitable for climate change.

Read: Live Updates of Arcadia Biosciences Q2 2019 Earnings Results

The results will also include the timing of expenses relating to Verdeca and employee expenses due to the growth of the commercial development team. The company have never been profitable and had an accumulated deficit of $191 million as of March 31, 2019. Arcadia expects to incur substantial costs and expenses before obtaining any revenues from the sale of seeds or ingredients incorporating its traits.

A small number of commercial partners are expected to continue to account for a substantial amount of Arcadia’s revenues for the next several years. Historically, the company has derived a substantial amount of its revenues from a limited number of strategic collaborations. The various payments from collaborators are a significant source of the company’s current revenue and are expected to be the largest source of its revenue in the future.

Apart from this, there remained substantial ambiguity about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern as its existing cash, cash equivalents, and investments will be insufficient to meet its anticipated cash requirements for at least through March 2020. The debt or equity financings remained the next step for raising additional funds.

In 2018, Arcadia launched its GoodWheat brand, a non-genetically modified (non-GM) portfolio of wheat products that enables food manufacturers to differentiate their consumer-facing brands. The company expects to market GoodWheat products in the latter part of this year. The company is developing three additional wheat varieties, reduced gluten wheat, an extended shelf life wheat, and superior yielding wheat.

Analysts expect the company to report a loss of $0.90 per share on revenue of $220,000 for the second quarter. In comparison, during the previous year quarter, Arcadia posted a loss of $2.02 per share on revenue of $436,000. The company has surprised investors by beating analysts’ expectations twice in the past four quarters.

Also read: Gevo Q2 earnings preview

For the first quarter, Arcadia reported a wider loss due to a 26% dip in revenues. The top line was hurt by the decrease in government grant revenue, partially offset by the increase in product sales. The company expects revenue from government grants and research contracts revenues to be replaced by product and trait revenues over the next six to fifteen months as it transitions to its new focus on health and nutrition quality products.

The stock has been soaring upwards since Friday after the US Department of Agriculture approval of a strain of soybeans with a genetic modification that makes them drought tolerant. Verdeca, a joint venture between Arcadia and Bioceres Crop Solutions, got approval to commercialize its HB4 drought-tolerant soybeans.

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