• Press Releases
• Media Coverage
  • 2007 Archive
  • 2006 Archive
  • 2005 Archive
  • 2004 Archive
• Events
• Webcasts
• Awards
• Media Contact

Media Coverage

Phase Forward Rolls Along with Strong Performance

CenterWatch Weekly

August, 2005

Phase Forward continued to lead the electronic data capture (EDC) sector, reporting solid growth for its second quarter. Revenues for the second quarter increased 17% to $20.7 million, compared with $17.7 million for the same quarter of 2004, and the company swung to a profit. Income from operations was $2 million in the second quarter compared with $946,000 for the prior year's quarter. Net income applicable to common stockholders for the second quarter of 2005 was $1.8 million, or $0.05 per share, on a diluted basis, compared with a net loss of $6.2 million, or a loss of $1.70 per share, for the second quarter of the previous year. The net loss for the second quarter of 2004 included a charge of $6.6 million associated with the accretion and dividend on preferred stock.

"Phase Forward successfully executed on all of our strategic priorities. We continued to build our market leadership in electronic data capture, serving customers across a range of types, sizes and geographic locations, with a mix of existing and new customers such as Acuity and Veristat," said Bob Weiler, chief executive officer and president. For the first six months of 2005, total revenues rose 19% to $41.3 million, compared with $34.7 million for the same period last year. Net income applicable to common stockholders for the first six months of 2005 was $3.3 million, or $0.09 per share, on a diluted basis, compared with a net loss of $7.7 million, or $2.15 per share, for the first half of the previous year. The company has $65.3 million in cash, compared with $58.2 million on December 31, 2004.

Weiler noted that the company has faced no pricing pressure from competitors. Among Phase Forward's competitors are Oracle, Datatrak, DataLabs, etrials and Medidata Solutions. In the second quarter, SAS and Phase Forward entered into a strategic alliance for the planned integration of Phase Forward's solution suite for clinical and safety management with SAS Drug Development. The joint offering is designed to streamline work processes for enterprise level implementation. "Though the transition from paper-based to electronic clinical trials has been slow in coming, the success stories are validating the results and the migration is taking hold,"Weiler told analysts. "We believe the next migration will be the move to integrated trials management systems."

Weiler added that he is convinced that its drug safety product Clintrace will continue to gain traction as government regulators and consumers demand more drug safety information. For the third quarter of 2005, the company expects revenues to be between $21.6 and $22.2 million, with approximately 90% anticipated to be recognized from backlog. Phase Forward expects gross margin to be between 60% and 62%, and operating expenses as a percent of revenues to be between 48% and 50%. Operating income is expected to be between $2.2 million and $2.6 million, with diluted earnings per share expected to be between $0.06 and $0.07.