Earnings Labs

Champions Oncology, Inc. (CSBR)

Q1 2026 Earnings Call· Mon, Sep 15, 2025

$5.90

Key Takeaways · AI generated
AI summary not yet generated for this transcript. Generation in progress for older transcripts; check back soon, or browse the full transcript below.

Same-Day

-16.02%

1 Week

-18.67%

1 Month

-20.72%

vs S&P

-21.37%

Transcript

Operator

Operator

Greetings. Welcome to the Champions Oncology First Quarter Fiscal Year 2026 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note, this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to your host, Rob Brainin, Chief Executive Officer. You may begin.

Robert Brainin

Analyst

Good afternoon. I'm Rob Brainin, CEO of Champions Oncology, and I'm joined today by our CFO, David Miller. Thank you for joining our quarterly earnings call. Before we begin, I'll remind you that today's remarks may include forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially, and more information can be found in our filings with the SEC. As many of you know, fiscal 2025 is a pivotal year for Champions as we rebounded after a difficult 2024 to achieve record annual revenue and profitability. Now as we move into fiscal year 2026, I'm honored to step into the role of leading Champions forward. My focus is on building on the strong foundation, sharpening strategic execution and positioning Champions for sustainable long-term growth. Having been on the Board of Directors of Champions Oncology, I have been intimately involved with Ronnie in shaping the strategy, which is strong and will remain consistent. Together, we are committed to driving the large value opportunities we see in Corellia and in our data business while continuing to expand our core TOS platform, which remains the heart and soul of Champions. Turning to the first quarter of fiscal 2026. The company delivered $14 million in revenue, rebounding from temporary softness in Q4. Growth was led by our TOS business with meaningful contributions from our emerging data platform. The momentum we built in fiscal 2025 has carried into this year, reinforcing our confidence in continued top line growth. Our foundation remains our industry-leading PDX bank with its deep multiomic characterization. This unique resource continues to power pharmacology studies across biopharma. While the macro environment is still challenging with biotech funding and R&D budgets still under pressure, we are encouraged by improving trends. Customer cancellations are down, bookings to revenue conversion has increased and our growing relationships with large…

David Miller

Analyst

Thanks, Rob, and welcome. Good afternoon, everyone. Before I dive in, just a quick reminder that our full results will be filed on Form 10-Q with the SEC later today. And as always, I'll reference certain non-GAAP metrics with reconciliations to GAAP included in our earnings release. Our first quarter results show that we are back on the path of growth and profitability that characterized most of fiscal 2025 after the pause we experienced in the final quarter of last year. Revenue for Q1 was $14 million. That's essentially flat with the first quarter of last year, but importantly, it represents a solid rebound from the $12.4 million we reported in Q4. Within that, our research services business contributed $13.7 million and our data business provided the balance. While the year-over-year comparison looks flat, we view this quarter as a return to stability and the start of renewed momentum for the year ahead. On a GAAP basis, we recorded a loss from operations of $0.5 million compared to income from operations of $1.3 million in the same quarter last year. It's worth noting that this operating loss included about $600,000 in noncash expenses, primarily stock-based compensation and depreciation. If you exclude those, adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was slightly positive at $60,000. That compares to $2 million of adjusted EBITDA in the year ago period. Turning to margins. Cost of sales for the quarter was $8 million compared to $7 million last year. That resulted in a gross margin of 43% versus 50% in Q1 of last year. The margin decline was primarily due to an increase in outsourced lab service costs for our radio labeling work. As we bring this work in-house, we anticipate gross margin expansion. Operating expenses for the quarter were $6 million, up about $1 million…

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] The first question comes from George Marema with Pareto Ventures.

George Marema

Analyst

First question was on the data model. Is there any changes in the strategy on either the business model or go-to-market with the data licensing business?

Robert Brainin

Analyst

George, thanks for the question. I would just say it's -- there's no changes, just to point blank answer, but it's still early. We've had some early wins. We see a lot of potential there. There's definitely customer engagement and excitement. So we're encouraged, and we've got a pipeline building. So -- and to be honest, it's one of the things that attracted me to Champions, but we still have a lot of work to do. So we'll continue to update that in the coming quarters as we continue to get traction there.

George Marema

Analyst

And how would you characterize the size of the opportunity of this business relative to the traditional business you have?

Robert Brainin

Analyst

Boy, I wish I knew that answer for sure. I think it's still early, and it's premature to predict the exact size and success of this opportunity. We know there's potential. We know there's interest. We know that this is the type of data that's feeding the AI and ML models that is fueling the latest rounds of drug discovery and development as to how much of that we can capture we'll find out together as we execute on these deals.

George Marema

Analyst

Okay. And then on Corellia, what are some of like the frameworks that you guys are entertaining and structuring deals with that? Is it more of a royalty milestone framework or other frameworks or how are you looking at this?

Robert Brainin

Analyst

We're looking at it. It's a wholly owned subsidiary of Champions, and we are actively involved in raising funds to help fund and support that wholly owned subsidiary, looking for external partners and funding to help them continue to advance the great work that they're doing. We're very encouraged by the data we're seeing there. It's quite compelling, and we'd like to bring in some external investment to help drive that forward.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Matthew Hewitt with Craig-Hallum.

Tollef Kohrman

Analyst · Craig-Hallum.

This is Tollef Kohrman on for Matt. Can you please provide some color on the broader investment landscape and what you're seeing from customers?

Robert Brainin

Analyst · Craig-Hallum.

Yes. It's still a tough environment. I think it's consistent with what Ronnie has kind of shared over the past several quarters. We're cautiously optimistic that the market is improving and the budget constraints that have been out there are starting to ease. So we see glimmers of hope, but at the same time, I don't -- I certainly don't think the floodgates have opened. So I put us squarely in that cautiously optimistic camp that things are turning around. And we really feel well positioned as they do with our proprietary tumor bank, and the work that we've done and are continuing to do internally to improve our processes and strategies, and it gives a good opportunity with me coming in for Ronnie to really continue to do that and drive that. And hopefully, as that window continues to open, we're well positioned to execute on it.

Tollef Kohrman

Analyst · Craig-Hallum.

Okay. And I realize you don't have a crystal ball, but you're speaking to second half of this year with margin expansion and growth in the top line. So would you consider a stabilization period to be more first half of this year?

Robert Brainin

Analyst · Craig-Hallum.

Yes. Maybe I'll ask David to take that one. My crystal ball is pretty fuzzy to you, David, I don't know if you want to comment there?

David Miller

Analyst · Craig-Hallum.

Sure. Yes, we definitely feel like this is potentially the low point for the fiscal year in terms of revenue, and we do anticipate that it will expand over the coming quarters. I think as we look ahead, just to reflect back on the previous question that we had from George, one of the big drivers will be data and whether or not we're able to convert that this year as opposed to sometimes things get delayed by a couple of months and then flips into next year. So we certainly feel from a services business, we see revenue building gradually over the coming year. And then like I said, where we really wish we had that crystal ball was on when some of these data deals will hit.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] We have a question coming from [ Clay Hoffman ] with Hoffman.

Unknown Analyst

Analyst

Yes. Do you guys have any color on Q2 so far on revenue compared to last year? You're about halfway through the quarter.

David Miller

Analyst

We certainly have a good handle on where revenue will come out where specifically I'm not giving specific guidance in terms of what that number will be. As I just said before, I do anticipate that our revenue will increase on a quarterly basis. But in terms of the exact numbers or percentages, we're not ready to provide that type of guidance at this time.

Operator

Operator

We have no further questions in queue. I'd like to turn the floor back to management for any closing remarks.

Robert Brainin

Analyst

Yes. Thank you. I'm excited to have joined the operating team and ready to dig in more. This is still less than 1 month on the job for me. But in that, I'll reiterate my appreciation to Ronnie for being a great partner as I transition in. I am a real believer in the potential of this business, and that's across all 3 vectors. Our core TOS business, our data opportunity and then the great work that the Corellia team has done. And I look forward to sharing the progress made on some of these questions you've asked at our next earnings call in mid-December. Thanks for joining us today.

Operator

Operator

This concludes today's conference, and you may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.