Durham antiviral drug developer Chimerix reported a drop in revenue and a bigger net loss Monday in the company's first quarterly earnings report since going public last month.

Chimerix said its quarterly net loss grew 32 percent to $9.1 million. The per share loss increased 339 percent, to $22.58.

The 46-employee company attributed the outsize per-share loss to the increase in accretion of redeemable convertible preferred stock. It was a non-cash charge that doesn't reflect on the company's earnings.

Chimerix stock is booming. The shares have risen to $20.82, up 77 cents in midday trading, in the wake of the earnings release, and several analysts issued reports saying the company's prospects for success look favorable.

PowerSecure International, the Wake Forest energy services company, reported a record first quarter as the company appears on course to double its sales every few years.

First-quarter sales rose 35.5 percent, to $45 million. Per share earnings increased to 4 cents, up from a loss of 3 cents a year ago.

The 700-employee company also reported a record backlog of $206 million, an indication of future sales. PowerSecure, which reported annual sales of $162 million last year, has set a goal for itself of reaching $300 million in annual sales by 2015.

"It's unbelievable the number of big opportunities we're blessed to be chasing," CEO Sidney Hinton told investors Wednesday as he described the give-and-take of heavy industry negotiations.

Triangle medical diagnostics company LipoScience issued its first earnings release as a publicly traded company Wednesday, reporting a boost in sales and in profits for the fourth quarter.

LipoScience reported that it raised $44.4 million in its public stock offering in January by selling 5.75 million shares of stock at $9 a share. Shares closed at $10.49 Wednesday, up 20 cents on the day.

The Raleigh company, which makes a lab test that assesses a patient's risk of heart disease, projected that 2013 revenue will increase between 7.7 percent and 11.3 percent.

The company employed 204 people as of Dec. 31 but could not be reached Wednesday for an update. LipoScience said it has nearly $25 million in cash and equivalents, and nearly $21 million in debt.

LipoScience reported that fourth-quarter revenue grew 8.6 percent to $13.6 million. That's based on clinicians ordering 490,000 tests on the company's NMR LipoProfile tests, an increase of nearly 15 percent.

Coming off its strongest year ever, PowerSecure International got off to a shaky start in 2012 with a solid growth in sales but a net loss overall, prompting a cost-cutting strategy to curb operating expenses.

The Wake Forest energy services company has been in a hiring binge in the past year and ballooned to more than 500 employees, including 187 in multiple locations in North Carolina as of last count.

But PowerSecure's prospects appear strong, with a strong balance sheet, healthy product orders in the pipeline and a business model that's generally praised by Wall Street analysts.

CEO Sidney Hinton said in a statement the company performed well but experienced "efficiency losses" in its utility infrastructure division, the company's biggest business unit. Hinton said reduced workloads required PowerSecure to incur expenses redeploying work crews to other utilities.

Progress Energy issued lackluster first-quarter earnings this morning in what Progress officials hope is the company’s last quarterly earnings release as a stand-alone company.

PowerSecure International, the Wake Forest utility services company that has doubled in size in recent years, reported record sales for the fourth quarter and the full year.

The company reported strong gains in all three business line, which are represented by offices in North Raleigh, Morrisville as well as Wake Forest.

PowerSecure had a "transformational" year, CEO Sidney Hinton said in a release. The 536-employee company said earlier this year it plans to add 100 jobs this year.

"Our business reached a new level of maturity and scale," Hinton said in the release.
 

Progress Energy reported weakening electricity sales for what was to be the Raleigh-based power company's last year of independent operation before a planned merger with Duke Energy in Charlotte.

The revenues and earnings released this morning are a prelude to conference calls with Wall Street analysts and investors who will undoubtedly seek updates on the status of the delayed $26 billion merger. Duke's conference call is scheduled at 10 a.m. today and Progress will update Wall Street at 2 p.m.

Duke's CEO Jim Rogers told our sister paper, The Charlotte Obsever, that the companies expect to file their revisions within a week. The two North Carolina electric utilities were expected to file their merger revisions as early as last month and warned then that the deal could be delayed by six months as the revisions make their way through complex regulatory reviews.

SciQuest reported another quarter of solid sales growth, as the Cary company signs up more customers for its eprocurement technology.

Revenue for the second quarter was $12.9 million, up 22 percent from a year earlier.

The company, which made its Wall Street debut in September, recently signed a major contract with the state of Colorado. Analysts expect that could lead to other lucrative state contracts.

"We're not killing it, we're not missing it, but as we told investors when we did the IPO, we're going to keep churning out good growth," CEO Stephen Wiehe said in a phone interview.

Net income was flat at $600,000. SciQuest is spending more to win customers and hire new workers.

Tekelec reported another decline in quarterly revenue this morning, but its financial results exceeded expectations of Wall Street analysts.

The Morrisville company makes software and other telecommunications technology that helps move data and video over high-speed and wireless networks.

Tekelec reshuffled its top management and slashed jobs this year as it shifts to focus on faster-growing parts of its business. It's counting on increasing demand for products tied to next-generation wireless networks.

In May, the company laid off about 50 people at its Morrisville headquarters as part of a broader restructuring to cut costs. Tekelec employs about 1,250 people worldwide, including about 625 in the Triangle.

Second-quarter revenue was $96.8 million, down 12 percent from a year earlier. Excluding some charges, Tekelec's net income was $5.8 million, or 8 cents a share.