Luna Innovations reports modest 2022 results

16 Mar 2023

Fiber-optics firm completes “transformative” year; expects strong growth in 2023; but stock price falls ~30%.

Luna Innovations, a developer of advanced optical technology, has this week announced its financial results for the three months and full fiscal year that ended December 31, 2022.

Scott Graeff, President and CEO, stated, “2022 was a transformational year for Luna representing the culmination of execution on the five-year strategic plan we outlined in 2017, thereby creating a pure-play fiber optics company.

“We’ve moved into 2023 with keen focus and high expectations for organizational optimization, large customer wins, and market expansion.

“With the completed divestiture of Luna Labs, our acquisition of Lios Sensing [in March, 2022], and the integration of OptaSense, we created a solid base that reflects our fiber-focused vision for our business going forward. We believe these accomplishments will help us deliver strong financial results in full-year 2023 and will enable our success far into the future.

“We are creating a leading global organization with world-class capabilities,” Graeff continued. “With the right people in the right places in a right-sized organization, we are preparing for significant scalability and targeting meaningful growth. We are looking forward to a strong year in an expanding market with incredible potential.”

Q4, 2022 highlights

• Revenues for Q4, 2022 increased 31% (over Q4, 2021); 34% in constant currency
• Gross margin for Q4, 2022 was 61%, (58% in Q4, 2021) driven mainly by product mix.
• Operating income increased to $1.5 million for Q4, 2022, ($1.0 million for Q4, 2021).
• Net income was $0.9 million for Q4, 2022, ($1.6 million for Q4, 2021).

Full year 2022 highlights

• Revenues for 2022 increased 25% (over 2021); 28% in constant currency.
• Gross margin of 61% for 2022 (59% for 2021).
• Operating loss of $1.9 million for 2022, decreased compared to loss of $2.6 million for 2021.
• Net income was $9.3 million for 2022, compared to $1.4 million for 2021.

Share price falls

However, immediately following the announcement of Luna’s financial results on March 14, its NASDAQ share price (“LUNA”), which had hovered around $9 to $10 since the start of 2023, fell to $6.50, with some analysts describing the latest numbers as “weaker than expected”.

Luna stated that its Q4, 2022 business highlights included: “multiple, new, large and recurring OEM accounts; winning multiple, large contracts for its fiber sensing solutions; achieving 47% year-over-year growth for its Terahertz products; a record quarter for its Communications Test vertical; and a new laser tester for silicon photonics applications.”

2023 expectations

In this week’s results announcement, Luna also gave a number of forecasts for its trading expectations for the full year of 2023:

• Total revenues in the range of $125 million to $130 million.
• Adjusted EBITDA (pre-tax earnings) in the range of $14 million to $18 million.
• For Q1, 2023, total revenues in the range of $23 million to $25 million.