OraSure Technologies Inc (OSUR) 2022 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and thank you pray. Welcome to the OraSure Technologies 2022 Fourth Quarter Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

美好的一天，謝謝你祈禱。歡迎來到 OraSure Technologies 2022 年第四季度收益電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。

I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Scott Gleason, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

我現在想把會議交給今天的演講者，投資者關係主管 Scott Gleason。請繼續。

Thanks, Victor. Good afternoon, and welcome to OraSure Technologies Fourth Quarter '22 Earnings Call. I'm Scott Gleason, the SVP of Investor Relations and Communications. And presenting with me today for OraSure is Carrie Eglinton Manner, our President and Chief Executive Officer; and Ken McGrath, our Chief Financial Officer. As a reminder, today's webcast is being recorded, and the recording can be found on the Investor Relations section of our website.

謝謝，維克多。下午好，歡迎來到 OraSure Technologies 第四季度 22 財報電話會議。我是 Scott Gleason，投資者關係和溝通高級副總裁。今天與我一起出席 OraSure 的是我們的總裁兼首席執行官 Carrie Eglinton Manner；和我們的首席財務官 Ken McGrath。提醒一下，今天的網絡廣播正在錄製中，可以在我們網站的投資者關係部分找到錄製內容。

Before we begin, you should know that this call may contain certain forward-looking statements, including statements with respect to revenues, expenses, profitability, earnings or loss per share, other financial performance, product development, performance, shipments and markets, business plans, regulatory filings, approvals, expectations and strategies. Actual results could differ significantly, factors that could affect results are discussed more fully in the company's SEC filings, including its registration statements, its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ending December 31, 2021, its quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and its other SEC filings.

在我們開始之前，您應該知道本次電話會議可能包含某些前瞻性陳述，包括有關收入、支出、盈利能力、每股收益或虧損、其他財務業績、產品開發、業績、出貨量和市場、業務計劃的陳述、監管文件、批准、期望和策略。實際結果可能會有很大差異，可能影響結果的因素在公司提交給美國證券交易委員會的文件中進行了更全面的討論，包括其註冊聲明、截至 2021 年 12 月 31 日的 10-K 表格年度報告、10-10 表格季度報告Q 及其向美國證券交易委員會提交的其他文件。

Although forward-looking statements help to provide complete information about our future prospects, listeners should keep in mind that forward-looking statements are based solely on information available to management as of today. The company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after this call.

儘管前瞻性陳述有助於提供有關我們未來前景的完整信息，但聽眾應記住，前瞻性陳述僅基於截至目前管理層可獲得的信息。公司不承擔更新任何前瞻性陳述以反映本次電話會議後發生的事件或情況的義務。

With that, I'm pleased to turn the call over to Carrie.

有了這個，我很高興把電話轉給嘉莉。

Thanks, Scott, and thank you to everyone for joining us today. In the fourth quarter, we once again delivered strong top line results, which exceeded our prior financial guidance, generated cash of $9 million in the quarter and made further progress in our strategic transformation journey. As we look to important aspects of how we are transforming, we have predominantly been focused on strengthening our foundation, expanding our cost reduction programs.

謝謝斯科特，感謝大家今天加入我們。第四季度，我們再次取得了強勁的業績，超出了我們之前的財務指引，本季度產生了 900 萬美元的現金，並在我們的戰略轉型之旅中取得了進一步進展。當我們著眼於我們轉型的重要方面時，我們主要專注於加強我們的基礎，擴大我們的成本削減計劃。

Today, we announced a reduction in our nonproduction workforce of 11%. These changes better align our organizational structure with the realities of our business. We believe the restructuring allows us to utilize our COVID-19 cash generation to support incremental growth investments, while targeting to achieve cash flow breakeven for the core business, that is non InteliSwab revenue by end of 2024.

今天，我們宣布將非生產勞動力減少 11%。這些變化更好地使我們的組織結構與我們的業務現實保持一致。我們相信，重組使我們能夠利用我們的 COVID-19 現金產生來支持增量增長投資，同時目標是到 2024 年底實現核心業務的現金流盈虧平衡，即非 InteliSwab 收入。

In 2023, we are focused on elevating growth across our core portfolio, increasing the reach of our current products, expanding segments and further enhancing our enterprise capabilities to drive business efficiency and growth. As an early proof point in our strategy, we signed a deal with Quest Diagnostics to serve as the preferred provider of saliva collection kits for Quest's Genomic Sequencing Services Group test offerings. We also have several co-clearances of sample collection devices underway with partner companies for their novel assays, similar to our recent Grifols announcement.

到 2023 年，我們將專注於提升我們核心產品組合的增長，擴大我們當前產品的覆蓋範圍，擴大細分市場並進一步增強我們的企業能力，以推動業務效率和增長。作為我們戰略的早期證明點，我們與 Quest Diagnostics 簽署了一項協議，作為 Quest 基因組測序服務組測試產品的唾液採集套件的首選供應商。我們還與合作夥伴公司就他們的新檢測進行了多項樣本收集設備的共同許可，類似於我們最近的 Grifols 聲明。

As we gain momentum across our business, we'll also look for opportunities to further accelerate growth through our own innovation pipeline, along with enhanced strategic partnerships, as well as potential acquisitions.

隨著我們在整個業務中獲得發展勢頭，我們還將尋找機會通過我們自己的創新渠道、加強戰略合作夥伴關係以及潛在的收購來進一步加速增長。

In order to provide more detail on our strategic progress, I'll begin with our organizational restructuring and efforts to drive core business profitability. First, we consolidated our 2 business units into 1 OraSure and have just announced the reduction of our nonproduction workforce by 11%. Streamlining our organization makes sense for our size and for the potential to unlock significant efficiencies, enhanced collaboration while simplifying our leadership structure, increased revenue synergy opportunities and improved resource allocation across the company. It will also allow us to leverage our enterprise functions such as manufacturing operations, R&D, quality and regulatory, along with our digital IT assets enterprise-wide. We anticipate the restructuring, along with other process improvements and cost reductions, will deliver operating expense savings of approximately $15 million per year, when fully implemented at the end of the first quarter.

為了提供有關我們戰略進展的更多細節，我將從我們的組織重組和推動核心業務盈利能力的努力開始。首先，我們將我們的 2 個業務部門合併為 1 個 OraSure，並且剛剛宣布將我們的非生產勞動力減少 11%。精簡我們的組織對於我們的規模和潛力來說是有意義的，可以顯著提高效率，加強協作，同時簡化我們的領導結構，增加收入協同機會，並改善整個公司的資源分配。它還將使我們能夠利用我們的企業職能，例如製造運營、研發、質量和監管，以及我們在企業範圍內的數字 IT 資產。我們預計重組以及其他流程改進和成本降低在第一季度末全面實施後，每年將節省約 1500 萬美元的運營費用。

As we lay the groundwork here for long-term cash generation, we have also made announcements -- sorry, and we've also made enhancements to our enterprise capabilities and manufacturing operations. I am pleased to announce that our new packaging and labeling configuration for InteliSwab has been authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and we expect this new configuration to begin shipping by the end of this March. These changes have been a major undertaking by our team, and will drive per test cost savings of approximately $0.40. This includes the impact from lower shipping costs based upon the smaller packaging configuration, which will reduce total truckloads by approximately 50%.

當我們在這里為長期產生現金奠定基礎時，我們也發布了公告——抱歉，我們還增強了我們的企業能力和製造業務。我很高興地宣布，我們用於 InteliSwab 的新包裝和標籤配置已獲得美國食品和藥物管理局的授權，我們預計這種新配置將於今年 3 月底開始發貨。這些更改是我們團隊的一項重大工作，並將推動每次測試成本節省約 0.40 美元。這包括基於較小包裝配置的較低運輸成本的影響，這將使卡車總載量減少約 50%。

Furthermore, it will reduce our environmental impact, since these changes will save on the order of 90 tons of plastic and 1,500 tons of paper from entering the waste stream. We are looking to apply these learnings to other portfolio products as well, such as our HIV self-test, and we believe we can unlock additional savings through further standardization and process enhancements.

此外，它將減少我們對環境的影響，因為這些變化將減少 90 噸塑料和 1,500 噸紙張進入廢物流。我們也希望將這些經驗應用於其他產品組合，例如我們的 HIV 自我檢測，我們相信我們可以通過進一步的標準化和流程改進來節省更多成本。

Contributing to our continuous process improvements, I'm pleased to share the addition of Trace Custer to our executive team leading quality and regulatory. Trace is a highly experienced life sciences industry veteran with leadership experience across numerous healthcare companies. Having joined us in Q4, Trace has now helped us implement a number of improvements to help lead in our restructuring and is evaluating further areas for efficiency, such as within our recent implementation of an electronic quality management system.

為我們的持續流程改進做出貢獻，我很高興分享 Trace Custer 加入我們領導質量和監管的執行團隊的消息。 Trace 是一位經驗豐富的生命科學行業資深人士，在眾多醫療保健公司擁有領導經驗。 Trace 在第四季度加入我們，現在幫助我們實施了多項改進，以幫助領導我們的重組，並正在評估其他領域的效率，例如我們最近實施的電子質量管理系統。

On systems, I would also highlight that we have now fully launched Salesforce.com across our commercial team. Using a standard CRM enables better monitoring and improvement of our sales KPIs, including in areas like pipeline growth and conversion success. I am a strong believer in operating rigor and every one of our teams at OraSure now has established sets of leading and lagging key performance indicators to drive visibility and accelerate our success, each of which along with those we roll up across the enterprise, we believe will drive results and deliver shareholder value.

在系統方面，我還要強調的是，我們現在已經在我們的商業團隊中全面推出了 Salesforce.com。使用標準 CRM 可以更好地監控和改進我們的銷售 KPI，包括渠道增長和轉化成功等領域。我堅信運營嚴謹，我們 OraSure 的每個團隊現在都建立了一系列領先和落後的關鍵績效指標，以提高知名度並加速我們的成功，我們相信，每一個指標以及我們在整個企業中積累的指標將推動成果並為股東創造價值。

As I've mentioned repeatedly, our organization has strengthened our foundation and is increasingly focused now on elevating our core growth and our strategic transformation. This quarter, we established some early proof points, that we believe helps set the tone for our longer-term roadmap, as we look to establish the company as a leader in self-testing and point-of-care diagnostics, as well as an effortless sample collection and services.

正如我反复提到的那樣，我們的組織加強了我們的基礎，現在越來越專注於提升我們的核心增長和戰略轉型。本季度，我們建立了一些早期證據，我們相信這有助於為我們的長期路線圖定下基調，因為我們希望將公司打造成自我檢測和即時診斷領域的領導者，以及輕鬆的樣品採集和服務。

First, within our Diagnostics segment, we are working to expand our respiratory assay portfolio, building on our success with COVID-19 lateral flow testing. We believe that InteliSwab will transition to become part of our core and combination influenza tests will become an important diagnostic for 2 of the most widespread clinically actionable and serious respiratory viruses. As such, we are working internally and in partnership externally to address this healthcare need around the flu. While we are not yet prepared to share details, we do believe in the important role of this test, as a part of the commercial expansion of our respiratory portfolio.

首先，在我們的診斷部門，我們正在努力擴大我們的呼吸檢測產品組合，以我們在 COVID-19 橫向流動測試方面的成功為基礎。我們相信 InteliSwab 將轉變為我們的核心和組合流感測試的一部分，將成為對兩種最廣泛的臨床可操作和嚴重呼吸道病毒的重要診斷。因此，我們正在內部和外部開展合作，以解決圍繞流感的這一醫療保健需求。雖然我們還沒有準備好分享細節，但我們相信這項測試的重要作用，作為我們呼吸產品組合商業擴張的一部分。

Also in InteliSwab this quarter, we won 2 additional contracts from the U.S. federal government. On the first contract, the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency agreed to purchase an estimated 18 million tests of InteliSwab COVID-19, with a maximum award of 36 million tests and a guaranteed minimum award of 3.6 million tests. The contract runs from November 2022 through November 2023. Additionally, we were notified by the government of an incremental award of 3.2 million tests in December. Fulfillment of both of these awards has been running concurrently with our existing government contract, that is supporting the school testing program.

同樣在本季度的 InteliSwab 中，我們從美國聯邦政府獲得了另外 2 份合同。在第一份合同中，美國國防後勤局同意購買估計 1800 萬次 InteliSwab COVID-19 測試，最高獎勵為 3600 萬次測試，保證最低獎勵為 360 萬次測試。合同有效期為 2022 年 11 月至 2023 年 11 月。此外，政府通知我們在 12 月增加了 320 萬次測試的獎勵。這兩個獎項的履行與我們現有的政府合同同時進行，該合同支持學校測試計劃。

Under our federal government contracts, we have shipped approximately 46 million tests as of the end of the fourth quarter and have up to 64 million additional tests, which can be purchased, assuming the government orders the target number of tests under our second RFP win. Additionally, in December, we were one of a group of companies awarded a tender for the state government of Connecticut, which also allows us to compete for up to 6 million additional tests.

根據我們的聯邦政府合同，截至第四季度末，我們已經運送了大約 4600 萬個測試，並且可以購買多達 6400 萬個額外的測試，假設政府在我們的第二次 RFP 中訂購了目標數量的測試。此外，在 12 月，我們是康涅狄格州政府投標的一組公司之一，這也使我們能夠競爭多達 600 萬個額外的測試。

As we think about growth drivers for diagnostics in 2023, we've also been notified that we will receive our first orders from Emory University supporting outreach testing under the Let's Stop HIV Together initiative. Furthermore, our OraQuick In-Home HIV test is now offered on amazon.com directly, with prime fulfillment. While our online sales via Amazon are relatively small, they are increasing as we fulfill more customer orders and have moved up in terms of search algorithm. We are also encouraged by recent U.S. government funding and future potential funding, focused on healthcare conditions we serve.

當我們思考 2023 年診斷的增長動力時，我們還收到通知，我們將收到埃默里大學的第一批訂單，支持在“讓我們一起阻止艾滋病”倡議下進行外展測試。此外，我們的 OraQuick In-Home HIV 測試現在直接在 amazon.com 上提供，並且質量很好。雖然我們通過亞馬遜的在線銷售額相對較小，但隨著我們完成更多客戶訂單並在搜索算法方面取得進展，它們正在增加。我們也對最近的美國政府資金和未來的潛在資金感到鼓舞，這些資金專注於我們所服務的醫療保健條件。

Moving to our molecular tips business; the headwinds we've discussed have continued, as some of our key customers have taken a more cautious stance on their near-term business outlook. That said, we believe the fundamental backdrop supporting genetic sample collection remains very attractive, as the number of applications continues to expand, and precision health is key to the future of healthcare. Examples of these trends include the increase in high-value diagnostic and precision therapeutics, along with clinical laboratories increasingly working to reach patients in lower acuity settings, such as in-home and retail. and like the deal I mentioned with Quest.

轉向我們的分子提示業務；我們討論的不利因素仍在繼續，因為我們的一些主要客戶對其近期業務前景採取了更加謹慎的立場。儘管如此，我們認為支持基因樣本採集的基本背景仍然非常有吸引力，因為應用數量不斷擴大，精準醫療是未來醫療保健的關鍵。這些趨勢的例子包括高價值診斷和精確治療的增加，以及臨床實驗室越來越多地致力於在較低敏銳度環境中接觸患者，例如家庭和零售。就像我提到的與 Quest 的交易一樣。

As we think about expanding our collection kits business, we would also highlight progress with Colli-Pee. This quarter, we launched 4 new CE IVD products in women's health and beyond. Additionally, we have multiple clinical research and commercial co-clearance collaborations kicked off, in an effort to continue establishing first void volumetric urine as a validated sample type for HPV screening, women's health therapeutics and the detection of oncology biomarkers. Finally, I would point out, the recent FDA approval of the first microbiome-based therapeutic to prevent C. difficile in adults with recent data showing that these therapeutics improve health outcomes. This approval paves the way for other biotherapeutics, and we believe will serve as a positive catalyst for microbiome-based investment in new research studies.

當我們考慮擴大我們的收集套件業務時，我們還會強調 Colli-Pee 的進展。本季度，我們在女性健康及其他領域推出了 4 種新的 CE IVD 產品。此外，我們還啟動了多項臨床研究和商業聯合許可合作，以努力繼續將首次排空體積尿液作為一種經過驗證的樣本類型，用於 HPV 篩查、女性健康治療和腫瘤生物標誌物檢測。最後，我要指出的是，最近 FDA 批准了第一種基於微生物組的療法來預防成人艱難梭菌，最近的數據表明這些療法可以改善健康結果。這一批准為其他生物治療藥物鋪平了道路，我們相信這將成為對基於微生物組的新研究投資的積極催化劑。

In conclusion, we have made significant progress strengthening our foundation, by resetting our cost structure and operating rigor. This progress will facilitate future growth investments and sets the stage for us to achieve cash flow breakeven by the end of 2024. As we look forward here in 2023, we are increasingly focused on elevating core business and increasing our innovation pipeline to accelerate profitable growth.

總之，我們通過重新調整成本結構和運營嚴謹性，在鞏固基礎方面取得了重大進展。這一進展將促進未來的增長投資，並為我們在 2024 年底實現現金流收支平衡奠定基礎。展望 2023 年，我們越來越專注於提升核心業務和增加創新渠道，以加速盈利增長。

With that, I am pleased to turn the call over to Ken to discuss our financial results and guidance.

有了這個，我很高興將電話轉給肯討論我們的財務業績和指導。

Thanks, Carrie. I'm pleased to discuss our financial results for the fourth quarter and provide updates on the financial outlook. First, from a top line perspective, we delivered total revenue of $123.1 million in the fourth quarter, which was another new record for the company, representing year-over-year growth of 94%. Our Diagnostics business unit delivered total revenue of $107.3 million in the quarter, growing 228% versus last year. The majority of this growth was driven by IntelliSwab, which increased almost sixfold year-over-year and our core diagnostics business was up 3% in the quarter.

謝謝，嘉莉。我很高興討論我們第四季度的財務業績，並提供有關財務前景的最新信息。首先，從頂線的角度來看，我們在第四季度實現了 1.231 億美元的總收入，這是公司的又一個新紀錄，同比增長 94%。我們的診斷業務部門在本季度實現了 1.073 億美元的總收入，比去年增長 228%。這一增長的大部分是由 IntelliSwab 推動的，它同比增長近六倍，我們的核心診斷業務在本季度增長了 3%。

Core growth was negatively impacted by the timing of international orders, which were down on a year-over-year basis. However, many orders were pushed out until the first quarter of 2023, and consequently, we expect a strong first quarter for our international diagnostics business. Additionally, as Carrie mentioned, we will begin seeing our first orders under the Let's Stop HIV Together program in the first quarter, bolstering our domestic HIV business.

核心增長受到國際訂單時間的負面影響，國際訂單同比下降。然而，許多訂單被推遲到 2023 年第一季度，因此，我們預計我們的國際診斷業務將在第一季度表現強勁。此外，正如 Carrie 提到的那樣，我們將在第一季度開始看到我們在 Let's Stop HIV Together 計劃下的第一批訂單，以加強我們國內的 HIV 業務。

Our Molecular Solutions business unit delivered revenue in the quarter of $15.8 million, declining 49% relative to the fourth quarter of last year. Excluding COVID-19 revenue, the business declined 32%. While we continue to add new accounts, 2 of our large consumer-oriented customers, and one large clinical lab ordered significantly less product when compared to Q4 of 2021. We believe this was due to a work down of excessive inventory within these accounts, as they respond to macroeconomic factors impacting the segments in which they compete. We also cycled against a significant research study purchased in 2021, that despite ongoing needs, did not repeat in Q4 of 2022.

我們的分子解決方案業務部門在本季度實現了 1580 萬美元的收入，與去年第四季度相比下降了 49%。不包括 COVID-19 收入，該業務下降了 32%。在我們繼續增加新客戶的同時，與 2021 年第四季度相比，我們的 2 個面向消費者的大型客戶和一個大型臨床實驗室訂購的產品明顯減少。我們認為這是由於這些客戶中過多庫存的減少，因為他們對影響他們競爭的細分市場的宏觀經濟因素做出反應。我們還針對 2021 年購買的一項重要研究進行了循環，儘管有持續的需求，但在 2022 年第四季度沒有重複。

Going forward, we expect to see continued volatility in this segment, as some of our largest customers continue to deal with these macroeconomic factors. Despite this expected volatility, we remain optimistic about the potential to expand genetic testing through partnerships, such as the deal with Quest Diagnostics and to support novel diagnostic assays, while we also onboard new customers.

展望未來，我們預計該細分市場將持續波動，因為我們的一些最大客戶將繼續應對這些宏觀經濟因素。儘管存在這種預期的波動性，但我們仍然對通過合作夥伴關係擴大基因檢測的潛力持樂觀態度，例如與 Quest Diagnostics 的交易和支持新的診斷分析，同時我們也吸引了新客戶。

From a gross margin perspective, our non-GAAP gross margins in the quarter were 40.7% compared to 40.0% last quarter and showing meaningful positive progress on a sequential basis. The sizable mix shift in revenue towards our diagnostic business unit continued to create some margin headwinds, with 87% of the revenue in the quarter coming from diagnostics versus 84% last quarter. We continue to make plans to boost our longer-term gross margin profile, including opportunities for further packaging improvements, plus standardization across products, moving our legacy test automation, as well as site consolidation based upon future volume contingencies.

從毛利率的角度來看，我們本季度的非美國通用會計準則毛利率為 40.7%，而上一季度為 40.0%，並且連續顯示出有意義的積極進展。收入向我們診斷業務部門的巨大組合轉移繼續對利潤造成一些不利影響，本季度 87% 的收入來自診斷，而上一季度為 84%。我們繼續制定計劃以提高我們的長期毛利率狀況，包括進一步改進包裝的機會，以及跨產品的標準化，移動我們的遺留測試自動化，以及基於未來數量突發事件的站點整合。

As Carrie mentioned earlier in the call, we plan to transition to our new packaging configuration for InteliSwab late in the first quarter of 2023, which we believe will save approximately $0.40 per InteliSwab test and have a meaningful impact on our gross margins. However, it is important to remember that given lower pricing under the new RFPs, we expect to have some pricing headwinds in the first quarter. Therefore, we anticipate some pressure on gross margins in the first quarter, followed by improvements throughout the year, as mix and manufacturing efficiencies improve our cost structure.

正如 Carrie 早些時候在電話會議中提到的，我們計劃在 2023 年第一季度末過渡到 InteliSwab 的新包裝配置，我們相信這將為每次 InteliSwab 測試節省約 0.40 美元，並對我們的毛利率產生重大影響。然而，重要的是要記住，鑑於新 RFP 下的定價較低，我們預計第一季度會遇到一些定價阻力。因此，我們預計第一季度的毛利率會受到一些壓力，隨後全年都會有所改善，因為組合和製造效率會改善我們的成本結構。

Moving on to our operating expenses; our non-GAAP operating expense in the quarter of $31.8 million decreased by $3.5 million relative to the third quarter. The decline in operating expenses is attributable to timing and lower bad debt, along with our focus on cost controls. Looking forward, we believe to expect -- we believe the expected $15 million in annualized operating expense savings highlighted by Carrie, will be fully recognized beginning in the third quarter of 2023. As part of achieving these savings from our workforce reductions, we expect to recognize onetime severance expense of $2 million in the first quarter.

繼續我們的運營費用；我們本季度的非美國通用會計準則運營費用為 3180 萬美元，比第三季度減少了 350 萬美元。運營費用的下降歸因於時機和壞賬減少，以及我們對成本控制的關注。展望未來，我們相信預計 - 我們相信 Carrie 強調的預計每年節省 1500 萬美元的運營費用將從 2023 年第三季度開始得到充分認可。作為通過裁員實現這些節省的一部分，我們預計在第一季度確認 200 萬美元的一次性遣散費。

In anticipation of InteliSwab tapering in the second half of 2023, we will deliver further cost reductions in manufacturing operations. Across all of our cost reduction efforts, we are targeting to achieve cash flow breakeven in our base business, excluding InteliSwab revenue by the end of 2024.

預計 InteliSwab 將在 2023 年下半年逐漸減少，我們將進一步降低製造業務的成本。在我們所有的成本削減努力中，我們的目標是到 2024 年底在我們的基礎業務中實現現金流盈虧平衡，不包括 InteliSwab 收入。

Our operating expense savings will allow us to make targeted investments with attractive returns, utilizing the significant cash we generated from InteliSwab in coming quarters. From a cash perspective, we ended the quarter with total cash and cash equivalents of $111 million, a $9 million increase from last quarter. Working capital increased significantly in the quarter, which the company believes will convert to cash as InteliSwab revenues taper in the future. We also continue to expect to generate positive cash flow from our $109 million Department of Defense contract to build out our InteliSwab capacity. The majority of the cash tied to this expansion has now been spent, and we will see positive cash flow, as we complete milestones under the contract going forward.

我們節省的運營費用將使我們能夠利用我們在未來幾個季度從 InteliSwab 產生的大量現金，進行有針對性的投資，並獲得有吸引力的回報。從現金角度來看，本季度末我們的現金和現金等價物總額為 1.11 億美元，比上一季度增加 900 萬美元。本季度營運資金大幅增加，該公司認為隨著 InteliSwab 未來收入的減少，營運資金將轉化為現金。我們還繼續期望從我們價值 1.09 億美元的國防部合同中產生正現金流，以增強我們的 InteliSwab 能力。與此次擴張相關的大部分現金現已用完，隨著我們完成合同下的里程碑，我們將看到正現金流。

Given the continued volatility with InteliSwab, we are only providing quarterly guidance for the fiscal year. In the first quarter of 2023, we are guiding to revenues of $125 million to $130 million, representing year-over-year growth of 85% to 92%. Regarding the cadence of revenue throughout the year, we are expecting continued strength in InteliSwab revenues in the first half of the year, while we deliver on our government contracts, followed by significantly more modest InteliSwab revenue in the third and fourth quarters.

鑑於 InteliSwab 的持續波動，我們僅提供本財年的季度指導。 2023 年第一季度，我們預計收入將達到 1.25 億美元至 1.3 億美元，同比增長 85% 至 92%。關於全年的收入節奏，我們預計今年上半年 InteliSwab 的收入將持續強勁，同時我們會履行我們的政府合同，隨後第三和第四季度的 InteliSwab 收入將顯著減少。

As Carrie mentioned, we are focused on driving momentum in our core business as we exit the year, by implementing our planned cost savings and looking for opportunities to drive core growth throughout 2023.

正如 Carrie 提到的那樣，我們專注於通過實施我們計劃的成本節約並尋找機會在整個 2023 年推動核心增長，從而在今年結束時推動核心業務的發展勢頭。

With that, I am pleased to turn the call back over to Carrie for concluding remarks.

有了這個，我很高興將電話轉回給 Carrie 以作總結髮言。

Thanks, Ken. We continue to make meaningful progress on our transformation journey this quarter, as the company focuses on innovating and operating with disciplined execution and accountability. We have now firmly positioned the company on a strong financial footing and expect to see our balance sheet improve through 2023, creating the opportunity for future growth investments. As we look forward, core growth is our predominant focus as an organization, and our team is motivated to deliver this year. We continue to believe that our capabilities can help power, where healthcare delivery is going, meeting people, patients where they are, providing innovation and care at the lowest possible level of acuity. Therefore, we are excited about the opportunities in front of us.

謝謝，肯。本季度，我們在轉型之旅中繼續取得有意義的進展，因為公司專注於創新和運營，並嚴格執行和問責制。我們現在已將公司牢牢定位在強大的財務基礎上，並預計到 2023 年我們的資產負債表會有所改善，為未來的增長投資創造機會。展望未來，核心增長是我們作為一個組織的主要關注點，我們的團隊有動力在今年實現目標。我們仍然相信，我們的能力可以幫助推動醫療保健服務的發展方向，滿足人們和患者所在的地方，以盡可能低的敏銳度提供創新和護理。因此，我們對擺在我們面前的機會感到興奮。

And with that, I'm pleased to turn the call back over to Scott for Q&A.

因此，我很高興將電話轉回給 Scott 進行問答。

Thanks, Carrie. Operator, we are now ready to begin the Q&A portion of the call. We would ask that you limit your questions to one question and one follow-up to ensure broad participation.

謝謝，嘉莉。接線員，我們現在準備開始通話的問答部分。我們會要求您將您的問題限制在一個問題和一項跟進，以確保廣泛參與。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question will come from the line of Vijay Kumar from Evercore ISI.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題將來自 Evercore ISI 的 Vijay Kumar。

Just on the base business here, (inaudible) share all the color. Is the base business now at a place where it should grow, or are we still looking at '23 as a transition year? And any color -- I know you spoke about the consumer genomics market macro, but you've also signed some new partnerships. So maybe just help us understand ex-COVID what the base business revenue trajectory should look like?

就在這裡的基礎業務，（聽不清）分享所有顏色。基礎業務現在是否處於應該增長的位置，或者我們是否仍在將 23 年視為過渡年？任何顏色——我知道你談到了消費者基因組學市場宏觀，但你也簽署了一些新的合作夥伴關係。因此，也許只是幫助我們了解前 COVID 的基本業務收入軌跡應該是什麼樣子？

No, great question, and thank you for that. Our guidance of $125 million to $130 million for Q1, what we're guiding towards is that the InteliSwab revenue will be roughly the same -- roughly flat or a little bit up quarter over prior quarter. So implied in that is that our core business is roughly flat versus Q4.

不，很好的問題，謝謝你。我們對第一季度的指導為 1.25 億美元至 1.3 億美元，我們的指導是 InteliSwab 收入將大致相同——與上一季度大致持平或略有上升。這意味著我們的核心業務與第四季度大致持平。

And I'd add on molecular. While we don't expect a snap recovery on the first half of 2023, we do remain optimistic about the long-term fundamentals of that segment. And that -- we shared some positive signals like the deal with Quest, it really is about those end segments. We are adding customers, and we are staying closely connected with them. So while, again, I'd just reiterate, we don't expect sort of the snap recovery, we do expect the strength in the long-term growth in that attractive market, which we continue to meet the needs of.

我會添加分子。雖然我們預計 2023 年上半年不會出現快速復蘇，但我們對該領域的長期基本面仍然持樂觀態度。而且——我們分享了一些積極的信號，比如與 Quest 的交易，它確實是關於那些終端細分市場的。我們正在增加客戶，並與他們保持密切聯繫。因此，雖然我再次重申，我們預計不會出現快速復蘇，但我們確實預計這個有吸引力的市場的長期增長勢頭強勁，我們將繼續滿足其需求。

Understood. And then maybe my follow-up here, one on gross margins and free cash flows. Gross margin, a slight improvement sequential from 3Q levels. But again, I think long term, we were looking at 50% plus as the gross margins of the business. Any comments on what the gross margin trajectory should look like? And you've also mentioned free cash for base business -- hitting free cash positive by end of fiscal '24, is the cash balance that you have on hand right now, that 80-plus, is that enough for you to achieve that free cash positivity?

明白了。然後也許是我在這裡的後續行動，一個關於毛利率和自由現金流量的問題。毛利率較第三季度略有改善。但同樣，我認為從長遠來看，我們將 50% 以上視為業務的毛利率。對毛利率軌跡應該是什麼樣子有什麼評論嗎？你還提到了基礎業務的自由現金——到 24 財年結束時自由現金為正，是你現在手頭的現金餘額，即 80 多，足以讓你實現自由現金現金積極性？

Hey Vijay, thanks for the question there. A couple of things as we think about the margin profile of the business. Obviously, we've seen a very significant mix shift from molecular to diagnostics over the last 12 months. Eventually, we're going to get to the point where we would expect to see InteliSwab starts to taper some. We obviously made the comments in the press release, where we talked about we expected the first half of the year to have a much higher weighting towards InteliSwab than the second half. As that mix transition occurs, you will start to see some margin benefits, because the molecular business has a higher underlying margin structure to it.

嘿 Vijay，感謝那裡的問題。當我們考慮業務的利潤率時，有幾件事。顯然，在過去的 12 個月裡，我們看到了從分子學到診斷學的非常顯著的混合轉變。最終，我們將達到我們期望看到 InteliSwab 開始逐漸變細的地步。我們顯然在新聞稿中發表了評論，在那裡我們談到我們預計今年上半年對 InteliSwab 的權重將比下半年高得多。隨著這種混合轉變的發生，您將開始看到一些利潤收益，因為分子業務具有更高的基礎利潤結構。

The other things that Ken mentioned that we're focused on, is when you look at the manufacturing side, we still have some significant changes that we're looking at in terms of site consolidation, standardization across products and then also looking at things like some of the learnings from InteliSwab, transferring that to the additional tests, which we think will drive margin improvements over time.

Ken 提到的我們關注的其他事情是，當您查看製造方面時，我們仍然在站點整合、跨產品標準化方面進行一些重大更改，然後也在查看諸如從 InteliSwab 中學到的一些知識，將其轉移到額外的測試中，我們認為這將隨著時間的推移推動利潤率的提高。

And so it's something we're focused on. We kind of see this as a marathon, not as something that's going to happen in any single quarter. And so it's something where we're going to make continual process improvements. But we have a new Director of operation -- or a new SVP of Operations, Zach Wert, who is highly focused on driving efficiencies across our business and it's something we're going to keep working on throughout the year here.

所以這是我們關注的事情。我們有點把這看作是一場馬拉松，而不是任何一個季度都會發生的事情。因此，我們將在這方面進行持續的流程改進。但我們有一位新的運營總監 - 或者一位新的運營高級副總裁 Zach Wert，他高度專注於提高我們業務的效率，這是我們全年將在這裡繼續努力的事情。

Yes, from a cash perspective, as we mentioned, we increased cash quarter-over-quarter. One thing we did highlight is that our working capital increased over -- during Q4. A lot of that was ramping up for some of the government business, as well as for the packaging changeover that we're doing. And if you look at it, there was significant -- I think our inventory quarter-over-quarter went up about $17 million and our accounts receivable went up by $9 million. We believe that's highly convertible to cash, given the government contract and the business that it's serving.

是的，正如我們提到的，從現金的角度來看，我們的現金環比增加了。我們確實強調的一件事是，我們的營運資金在第四季度增加了。對於一些政府業務，以及我們正在進行的包裝轉換，其中很多都在增加。如果你看一下，你會發現很重要——我認為我們的存貨環比增加了大約 1700 萬美元，我們的應收賬款增加了 900 萬美元。考慮到政府合同及其服務的業務，我們認為這可以高度轉換為現金。

Our next question will come from the line of Patrick Donnelly from Citi.

我們的下一個問題將來自花旗的 Patrick Donnelly。

Hi. This is Lizzie on for Patrick. So I guess, first, I think you mentioned for some of the consumer-oriented customers, they were ordering less this quarter. I guess how quickly do you suspect that they're going to work through this inventory? Is this more of like a 2-quarter -- or is it more like the second half of the year? And I have one follow-up.

你好。這是帕特里克的莉齊。所以我想，首先，我想你提到過一些面向消費者的客戶，他們本季度的訂單減少了。我想您懷疑他們將以多快的速度完成此清單？這更像是第二季度——還是更像是今年下半年？我有一個後續行動。

Yes, Lizzie, I think the guidance that we provided is that, we're not going to see kind of a snap recovery here in the first half of the year. That said, when we look at the end market growth for our core customers, most of them are continuing to grow. And you can see that among a lot of the clinical laboratories that you guys cover, that the end markets remain growing. That's what makes us confident that some of the softness that we've seen is tied to inventory rebalancing.

是的，Lizzie，我認為我們提供的指導是，我們不會在今年上半年看到快速復蘇。也就是說，當我們審視核心客戶的終端市場增長時，他們中的大多數都在繼續增長。你可以看到，在你們覆蓋的許多臨床實驗室中，終端市場仍在增長。這就是讓我們相信我們所看到的一些疲軟與庫存再平衡有關的原因。

We are seeing some labs having some financial challenges, and so they're trying to preserve cash. And so that activity is, we believe translate into the business. And so that gives us confidence in the longer term. But I think the bigger thing that Carrie mentioned is, the fundamental backdrop we see for the market overall is exceptionally strong. And we've seen an increased interest in people reaching patients where they are. We had the Grifols deal last quarter. We had the Quest deal this quarter. I think that's a strong example of the types of demand that we're seeing from customers, and we expect that to continue. And it's something that we're going to be focused on heavily this year, as we focus on growth.

我們看到一些實驗室面臨一些財務挑戰，因此他們正試圖保留現金。因此，我們相信這種活動會轉化為業務。因此，這使我們對長期前景充滿信心。但我認為 Carrie 提到的更重要的事情是，我們看到的整個市場的基本面背景異常強勁。我們已經看到人們對接觸患者所在位置的興趣越來越大。上個季度我們與 Grifols 達成了交易。我們在本季度進行了 Quest 交易。我認為這是我們從客戶那裡看到的需求類型的一個很好的例子，我們希望這種情況會繼續下去。這是我們今年將重點關注的事情，因為我們專注於增長。

Great. And then I guess just on your priorities when it comes to investing back in the business, you talked about site consolidation, standardization and the new packaging. What are your other -- what are the other areas, I guess, that you're looking at, whether it's cutting costs or just investing internally?

偉大的。然後我猜你在投資業務時的優先事項，你談到了網站整合、標準化和新包裝。你的其他方面是什麼——我想，你正在關注的其他領域是什麼，是削減成本還是只是內部投資？

Yes. As you mentioned, our focus areas, first, it's around InteliSwab, which we've delivered on over the past couple of quarters and continue to -- with significant reductions in costs. And in Q1, we'll see reductions, as we mentioned in the packaging. And then the other area of focus will be around our facility site rationalization, and really looking to optimize the footprint that we have, as well as, as Scott mentioned, taking the capabilities that we've developed with InteliSwab, and transferring those to other product lines and those efficiencies. Those are the primary focus areas, in addition to, as Carrie mentioned earlier, the restructuring that we announced earlier today. Those are the primary areas that we'll be focused on going forward.

是的。正如你提到的，我們的重點領域首先是圍繞 InteliSwab，我們在過去幾個季度已經交付並將繼續這樣做——成本顯著降低。正如我們在包裝中提到的那樣，在第一季度，我們將看到減少。然後另一個重點領域將圍繞我們的設施場地合理化，並真正尋求優化我們擁有的足跡，以及正如 Scott 提到的那樣，利用我們通過 InteliSwab 開發的功能，並將這些功能轉移到其他產品線和那些效率。這些是主要的重點領域，此外，正如 Carrie 之前提到的，我們今天早些時候宣布的重組。這些是我們未來將重點關注的主要領域。

Our next question comes from the line of Brandon Couillard from Jefferies.

我們的下一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 Brandon Couillard。

Carrie, in terms of the restructuring, 11% headcount reduction in nonproduction areas, were any of those positions -- I mean, should we think about those as mostly non-revenue-generating positions? And when you consolidate molecular and diagnostics together, will that change how you report the segment revenues externally? And lastly, the $50 million savings, should we think about that as a gross or net number? And I think you kind of mentioned some desire to maybe reinvest some of that in growth. Is that more of a '24 investments or should we see that sooner?

嘉莉，就重組而言，非生產領域裁員 11%，這些職位中的任何一個——我的意思是，我們是否應該將這些職位視為主要是非創收職位？當您將分子和診斷合併在一起時，這會改變您向外部報告分部收入的方式嗎？最後，節省 5000 萬美元，我們應該將其視為總額還是淨額？而且我認為你提到了一些可能將其中的一些再投資於增長的願望。這是更多的 24 年投資還是我們應該早點看到？

Brandon, I'm going to let Ken start on the segment reporting, and then I'll hit the restructuring piece.

布蘭登，我要讓肯開始分部報告，然後我會談到重組部分。

Yes, Brandon, we are planning on starting in Q1 of 2023, to change our reporting to one segment, recognizing the changes that we've made in the organization structure and how we run the business as we go forward. As far as the cost savings, the $15 million annualized cost savings that we quoted, the way to think of it is, coupled with the cash that we've generated from InteliSwab and are generating from InteliSwab, and then layering on the cost savings. What we are doing is building up a cash base to then further invest in the business, whether it's organic investments or inorganic. Obviously, we can't talk about any specific examples on this call, but that's the approach that we're taking is, deliver on InteliSwab, build up that cash base and then get -- become more efficient with the core business and use that savings then to reinvest in the business going forward.

是的，布蘭登，我們計劃從 2023 年第一季度開始，將我們的報告改為一個部分，認識到我們在組織結構中所做的改變以及我們在未來如何經營業務。就成本節約而言，我們引用的 1500 萬美元的年化成本節約，就是這樣想的，再加上我們從 InteliSwab 產生的現金，以及從 InteliSwab 產生的現金，然後對成本節約進行分層。我們正在做的是建立現金基礎，然後進一步投資於業務，無論是有機投資還是無機投資。顯然，我們不能在這次電話會議上談論任何具體的例子，但我們正在採取的方法是，交付 InteliSwab，建立現金基礎，然後獲得 - 提高核心業務的效率並使用它儲蓄然後再投資於未來的業務。

And again, that reinvestment will be organic areas as well as inorganic, depending on the best opportunities. Carrie, do you want to add...

再一次，再投資將是有機領域和無機領域，這取決於最好的機會。嘉莉，你想補充...

And I'd say focusing on strategic partnerships where those make sense now, we've talked about that from the beginning, and you will see us increasingly focusing on delivering growth through strategic partnership. On the restructuring, very clearly, we have restructured to generate growth, so as to not impact that moving forward. And I'd say when you look at the cost cutting, it started with simplification, really focused around consolidating functions across the enterprise. We're too small a business to have sort of these distinct business units.

我想說的是，專注於那些現在有意義的戰略合作夥伴關係，我們從一開始就談到了這一點，你會看到我們越來越關注通過戰略合作夥伴關係實現增長。在重組方面，很明顯，我們已經重組以產生增長，以免影響未來的發展。我想說的是，當您查看成本削減時，它從簡化開始，真正專注於整合整個企業的功能。我們的企業規模太小，無法擁有這些不同的業務部門。

And so eliminating redundant management positions, focusing on value creation opportunities. But that consolidation of functions for a business our size, just really makes a lot of sense. And so it's -- now that we have done a lot of the work on strengthening the foundation, it really is about elevating our core growth. And I'd just reiterate that, innovation internally plus strategic partnerships as we rebuild our cash base to be even stronger.

從而消除多餘的管理職位，專注於價值創造機會。但是，對於我們這種規模的企業來說，功能整合確實很有意義。所以它 - 現在我們已經在加強基礎方面做了很多工作，這實際上是關於提升我們的核心增長。我只是重申，在我們重建現金基礎以變得更強大時，內部創新加上戰略合作夥伴關係。

And Carrie, as you mentioned, coupled with the restructuring, there's also a focus on process improvements within the organization to help drive our efficiency as we go forward.

嘉莉，正如你提到的，加上重組，還有一個重點是組織內部的流程改進，以幫助我們在前進的過程中提高效率。

Got it. Okay. And then on InteliSwab, do you think you could give us a feel for the magnitude of the sequential gross margin improvement you may have seen just for that product? And what is the $0.40 of savings from the new packaging mean to the gross margin profile of that product?

知道了。好的。然後在 InteliSwab 上，您是否認為您可以讓我們了解您可能僅針對該產品看到的連續毛利率提高的幅度？新包裝節省的 0.40 美元對該產品的毛利率意味著什麼？

I don't think we've given that level of detail out in our numbers. But I'll tell you how to think about it, right? So right now, I think we mentioned there was 46 million tests delivered through December of last year, and about 64 or-so million tests remaining going forward on the 3 contracts that we have. Now one element is, some of those contracts have lower price points than the original contract. So that's one headwind. However, to your point, as we offset that, you can think of the $0.40 per test being implemented by the end of this quarter. And then based on the remaining volume of those tests, it's a simple math there. Scott, I think that's about what we've said publicly, correct?

我不認為我們已經在我們的數字中給出了那種程度的細節。但我會告訴你如何思考它，對吧？所以現在，我想我們提到截至去年 12 月已經交付了 4600 萬次測試，並且根據我們擁有的 3 份合同，未來還有大約 64 萬次左右的測試。現在的一個因素是，其中一些合同的價格點低於原始合同。所以這是一個逆風。但是，就您的觀點而言，正如我們抵消的那樣，您可以想到在本季度末實施的每次測試 0.40 美元。然後根據這些測試的剩餘量，這是一個簡單的數學運算。斯科特，我想這就是我們公開說過的話，對嗎？

Yes. Ken, obviously, Brandon, we've said the preponderance of our revenue is still under those government contracts, which the pricing has been disclosed. So when you think about $0.40 on -- relative to that test pricing. Obviously, it's a very significant increase in the gross margin structure for that business. On a sequential basis, while we didn't give the gross margins, we did see a meaningful improvement in terms of InteliSwab, on a sequential basis as well.

是的。肯，很明顯，布蘭登，我們已經說過，我們的大部分收入仍在那些政府合同下，這些合同的定價已經披露。所以當你考慮 0.40 美元時——相對於那個測試定價。顯然，這是該業務毛利率結構的一個非常顯著的增長。在連續的基礎上，雖然我們沒有給出毛利率，但我們確實看到 InteliSwab 在連續的基礎上也有了有意義的改善。

Our next question will come the line of Jacob Johnson from Stephens.

我們的下一個問題將來自 Stephens 的 Jacob Johnson。

Just maybe the other side of the restructuring you announced today, the One OraSure initiative. Carrie, you mentioned the potential for enhanced collaboration and revenue synergies. Can you just talk about some of the opportunities you see as you unite the segments?

也許只是您今天宣布的重組的另一面，即 One OraSure 計劃。 Carrie，您提到了加強合作和收入協同效應的潛力。您能否談談您在整合各個細分市場時看到的一些機會？

Absolutely. Jacob, I think we've shared some of the restructuring and expanded upon it in this quarter, that we brought together a product office, which brings together our commercial teams in sales and marketing, product management and R&D under Kathy Weber, whom you all know. And the opportunity spans from our collection kits, where we have tremendous relationships and can expand in -- through areas like new applications for those kids, microbiome services, building on our services capability of what is our Diversigen business.

絕對地。雅各布，我認為我們在本季度分享了一些重組並對其進行了擴展，我們組建了一個產品辦公室，將我們在銷售和營銷、產品管理和研發方面的商業團隊聚集在 Kathy Weber 的領導下，你們所有人知道。機會來自我們的收集工具包，我們在那裡擁有巨大的關係，並且可以通過為這些孩子提供新應用、微生物組服務等領域進行擴展，建立我們的 Diversigen 業務的服務能力。

I'd say, let me be clear that, while we think there is opportunity to cross-sell more, we also, through this restructuring, are very much maintaining the specialized strengths within our portfolio. So even though we're creating one product office, which allows for collaboration, there's also this element of best practice sharing, and it's not that the sales teams are being mashed together to sell those products. It's more maintaining specialization, leveraging best practices and sharing sort of a strategic account focus across the business to increase our hunting, while maintaining all of our service capabilities.

我要說的是，讓我明確一點，雖然我們認為有更多交叉銷售的機會，但我們也通過這次重組，在很大程度上保持了我們產品組合中的專業優勢。因此，即使我們正在創建一個允許協作的產品辦公室，也有最佳實踐共享的元素，並不是銷售團隊被混在一起銷售這些產品。它更多地保持專業化，利用最佳實踐並在整個企業中共享某種戰略客戶重點，以增加我們的獵頭，同時保持我們所有的服務能力。

Okay. That's helpful. And then just for my follow-up, I think last quarter, you mentioned inorganic growth opportunities. Ken just mentioned, I think, in the answer previously. Certainly, I understand you're not going to tell me what you're going to buy. But in terms of maybe timing and your appetite for M&A, do you think you've accomplished a lot of maybe some of the operational internal organic initiatives, that sort of blocking and tackling, such that now you can start looking? Or do you feel like there's still some more things you need to do, before you look to M&A?

好的。這很有幫助。然後就我的後續行動而言，我認為上個季度，你提到了無機增長機會。我想 Ken 剛剛在之前的回答中提到過。當然，我知道你不會告訴我你要買什麼。但是就可能的時機和您對併購的興趣而言，您是否認為您已經完成了很多可能的一些內部有機運營計劃，比如阻止和解決，這樣現在您就可以開始尋找了？還是您覺得在尋求併購之前您還需要做一些其他事情？

To your point, Jacob, there are still things internally we can and will do to increase our innovation pipeline. And so this focus on strengthening our foundation, we feel like puts us on very solid financial footing, while we simultaneously increased our internal pipeline and all of the process rigor around that. And then I said it before, but I'm going to emphasize again, strategic partnerships are the way where we get momentum, before we have the cash because we're going to be very judicious and not threaten any aspect of our liquidity. But strategic partnerships give us that way to think about how we can expand our value chain capabilities within each of our portfolios and then potentially position for the right M&A, as it's available.

就你的觀點而言，Jacob，在內部我們仍然可以並且將會做一些事情來增加我們的創新渠道。因此，專注於加強我們的基礎，我們覺得這讓我們擁有非常穩固的財務基礎，同時我們增加了我們的內部管道和圍繞它的所有流程的嚴謹性。然後我之前說過，但我要再次強調，在我們擁有現金之前，戰略合作夥伴關係是我們獲得動力的方式，因為我們將非常明智並且不會威脅到我們流動性的任何方面。但戰略合作夥伴關係為我們提供了一種方式來思考我們如何在我們的每個投資組合中擴展我們的價值鏈能力，然後在可能的情況下為正確的併購定位。

So while we're not talking specific M&A, I focus on strategic partnerships and value chain expansion in the segments in which we play.

因此，雖然我們沒有談論具體的併購，但我專注於我們所從事領域的戰略合作夥伴關係和價值鏈擴張。

Our next question will come from the line of Andrew Cooper from Raymond James.

我們的下一個問題將來自 Raymond James 的 Andrew Cooper。

Maybe first, just thinking about the gross margins, I know a couple have already sort of attacked this a little bit. But when we think about InteliSwab margins being up sequentially, you had talked about the core being down a bit quarter-over-quarter, and that seems like it's -- what played out. But can you give us a sense for other than mix, what some of the moving parts are there? Did things perform more or less as you expected? And maybe just on a constant mix basis, what has that core gross margin really looked like, and how should we think about it trending through the course of '23?

也許首先，考慮到毛利率，我知道有一對夫婦已經對此進行了一些攻擊。但是，當我們考慮 InteliSwab 的利潤率連續上升時，你曾談到核心業務比上一季度略有下降，這似乎是——發生了什麼。但是除了混音之外，你能告訴我們還有哪些活動部件嗎？事情的表現與你預期的差不多嗎？也許只是在一個恆定的混合基礎上，核心毛利率到底是什麼樣的，我們應該如何看待它在 23 年期間的趨勢？

Yes, I think you're thinking of the right elements as you go through it. Mix, as Scott mentioned, as we mix towards more diagnostic, which has an overall lower margin than molecular over the past couple of quarters, that's kind of a headwind to overall gross margins. However, the team through their great work, has offset a lot of that, with improvements in efficiencies, in particular with InteliSwab. And they will continue to do that, as we mentioned, with the packaging and freight reductions of about $0.40 per test as we go forward. So I think you're thinking of the right elements in there.

是的，我認為您正在考慮正確的要素。混合，正如 Scott 提到的，當我們混合更多的診斷時，在過去的幾個季度中，診斷的整體利潤率低於分子，這對整體毛利率來說是一種不利因素。然而，團隊通過他們的出色工作，已經抵消了很多，提高了效率，尤其是 InteliSwab。正如我們提到的，他們將繼續這樣做，隨著我們的前進，每次測試的包裝和運費減少約 0.40 美元。所以我認為你正在考慮其中的正確元素。

The other area that we've made improvements in margin is, as we bring on more volume, we do better with our overall absorption in the facilities that we have. That's an area that we focused on, as well as a significant reduction in scrap along the way. So I think you're thinking of the right areas, it's mix and then there's overall operational efficiency that we're driving. And if you think long term, one of the areas that we mentioned on a prior question was around our facility footprint, and really looking at leveraging our facility footprint going forward to take the best advantage of it.

我們在利潤率方面取得改善的另一個領域是，隨著我們帶來更多的數量，我們在我們擁有的設施中的整體吸收方面做得更好。這是我們關注的領域，也是我們在此過程中顯著減少廢料的領域。所以我認為你在考慮正確的領域，它是混合的，然後是我們正在推動的整體運營效率。而且，如果您從長遠考慮，我們在先前的問題中提到的一個領域是圍繞我們的設施足跡，並且真正考慮利用我們的設施足跡向前發展以充分利用它。

And then in addition to that, to leverage the capabilities we've developed and built with InteliSwab and leverage that on our other platforms. So those are the areas -- that's how we're thinking of it going forward. So I think you're thinking of it the right way.

然後除此之外，利用我們用 InteliSwab 開發和構建的功能，並在我們的其他平台上利用它。所以這些就是這些領域——這就是我們對未來的思考方式。所以我認為你正在以正確的方式思考它。

Yes. And [Andrew] I would just highlight 2 other areas. One thing we did see this quarter is we had a higher international mix, when we look at our Diagnostics segment. The international Diagnostics business has a lower gross margin profile than our U.S. domestic-based diagnostics. The other piece, as we think about our margin structure that we saw in the quarter is -- remember, the COVID molecular kits had a very high margin profile as -- the highest margin product for the company. And so as that tapered some, that also has created some headwinds as well for the business overall.

是的。 [Andrew] 我只想強調另外兩個領域。本季度我們確實看到的一件事是，當我們查看我們的診斷部門時，我們有更高的國際組合。國際診斷業務的毛利率低於我們美國國內的診斷業務。另一部分，當我們考慮我們在本季度看到的利潤率結構時，請記住，COVID 分子試劑盒的利潤率非常高，因為它是公司利潤率最高的產品。因此，隨著逐漸減少，這也給整體業務帶來了一些阻力。

Okay. Helpful. And maybe just following up on one of those things, just in terms of the facility footprint and how you think about that. Obviously, the government's funding a lot that can probably be used beyond InteliSwab. So should we be thinking about that as likely being some of the legacy facilities moving into that super factory you've talked about before? What do timelines sort of look like for that? And anything else we should think about from that footprint perspective?

好的。有幫助。也許只是跟進其中一件事情，就設施足跡和你如何看待這一點而言。顯然，政府的大量資金可能會用在 InteliSwab 之外。那麼我們是否應該將其視為可能是一些遺留設施搬入您之前談到的那個超級工廠？時間表是什麼樣的？從足蹟的角度來看，還有什麼我們應該考慮的嗎？

Yes. So at a high level, yes, you're right. That's how we're thinking of it. We haven't quoted any timelines at this point. You can imagine it's an urgency of us. We have a facility, we have a capability we've built. Now we want to leverage that to its fullest extent. So that's the analysis and approach we're looking at right now. I can't give you a timeline, but we are -- that is a sense of urgency...

是的。所以在高層次上，是的，你是對的。這就是我們的想法。我們目前還沒有引用任何時間表。你可以想像這是我們的當務之急。我們有一個設施，我們有我們已經建立的能力。現在我們想最大限度地利用它。這就是我們現在正在研究的分析和方法。我不能給你一個時間表，但我們 - 這是一種緊迫感......

Yes. site consolidation is a priority. And those capabilities we have built the super factory, Andrew, that you appropriately remember can be translated across our OraQuick platform and leverage more broadly in the portfolio.

是的。網站整合是當務之急。我們已經建立超級工廠的那些功能，安德魯，你應該記得，可以在我們的 OraQuick 平台上進行翻譯，並在產品組合中更廣泛地利用。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from the line of Casey Woodring from JPMorgan Chase.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的 Casey Woodring。

The stocking and genomics, is that a 1 quarter dynamic here in 2023, or is it perhaps something that you see lasting into the second half of the year? How do you see stocking playing out through the course of this year, and do you see this business growing in 2023?

庫存和基因組學，這是 2023 年第一季度的動態，還是你認為它會持續到下半年？您如何看待今年的庫存情況？您認為這項業務在 2023 年會增長嗎？

Yes, Casey. I think as we talked about from a guidance perspective, obviously, we don't provide specific business unit guidance. That said, we have seen kind of a general trend. A lot of companies right now are in cash preservation mode. And so when we look at companies across our customer spectrum, we think that many are bringing down inventory levels from a cash preservation standpoint.

是的，凱西。我認為，正如我們從指導的角度談到的那樣，顯然，我們不提供具體的業務部門指導。也就是說，我們已經看到了一種普遍趨勢。現在很多公司都處於現金保存模式。因此，當我們審視我們客戶範圍內的公司時，我們認為許多公司從現金保存的角度來看正在降低庫存水平。

I think it's tough to predict exactly when that's going to end. Our guidance that we gave roughly on the call was that, we would expect relatively similar trends here in the near term, but we're very optimistic longer term. And so we're hoping to see some improvement as we go throughout the year for that business. But we haven't provided specific business unit guidance.

我認為很難準確預測這種情況何時結束。我們在電話會議上大致給出的指導意見是，我們預計短期內會出現相對相似的趨勢，但從長遠來看，我們非常樂觀。因此，我們希望在全年開展該業務時看到一些改進。但我們還沒有提供具體的業務部門指導。

Okay. That's fair enough. And then my follow-up is just on the Quest partnership. How much upside does this provide in 2023? Can you give us a sense of how many tests a year you would be providing products for and how we should be modeling the impact to margins there?

好的。這很公平。然後我的後續行動只是關於 Quest 合作夥伴關係。這在 2023 年提供了多少好處？您能否告訴我們每年您將提供產品進行多少次測試，以及我們應該如何模擬對利潤率的影響？

Yes Casey, while we're not sharing specific details of it. What we would say is that, as the preferred provider for Quest's genomic sequencing services test group, it's for all saliva collection for that business. So we're obviously hoping and cheering for their launch. We will be hoping that, that grows, and I think we'll be staying tuned. The opportunity though is for customers like Quest and I'd say just this theme of moving to meet patients where they are, the beauty of our effortless sample collection, is that we can power the entire industry in doing that. So our strategy is to increasingly be the go-to sample collection innovator across sample types. So I think while it's a great example, and we're rooting for them, we're really looking to be that partner across the whole industry.

是的，凱西，雖然我們沒有分享它的具體細節。我們要說的是，作為 Quest 基因組測序服務測試組的首選提供商，它適用於該業務的所有唾液收集。所以我們顯然希望並為他們的發布歡呼。我們希望它會增長，我想我們會繼續關注。機會雖然是給像 Quest 這樣的客戶的，但我想說的是，這個主題是移動到他們所在的地方去見病人，我們毫不費力的樣本收集之美，就是我們可以推動整個行業這樣做。因此，我們的戰略是越來越多地成為跨樣本類型的首選樣本收集創新者。所以我認為雖然這是一個很好的例子，而且我們正在為他們加油，但我們真的希望成為整個行業的合作夥伴。

And I'm not showing any further questions in the queue. I'd like to turn the call back over to Carrie for any closing remarks.

我不會在隊列中顯示任何其他問題。我想將電話轉回 Carrie 以聽取任何結束語。

Great. Thank you to each of you for joining. We appreciate the interest. And while we look here to 2023, we just emphasized that the shift from our -- strengthening the foundation and a very solid reset for our financial footing to elevating our core growth and allowing us to accelerate into profitable growth. So more to come. Thank you again, and have a good night.

偉大的。感謝你們每一位的加入。我們感謝您的興趣。當我們展望 2023 年時，我們只是強調了從加強基礎和非常穩固的財務基礎重置到提升核心增長並使我們能夠加速實現盈利增長的轉變。所以還有更多。再次感謝你，祝你有個美好的夜晚。

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect. Everybody, have a great day.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連接。大家，祝你有美好的一天。