PacBio (PACB) Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

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DATE

Wed, Nov. 4, 2026

CALL PARTICIPANTS

• Investor Relations – Marissa Bych
• President and Chief Executive Officer – Mark Van Oene
• Chief Accounting Officer – Bill Meyer

TAKEAWAYS

• Total Revenue — $40.6 million, representing 6% growth from $38.4 million in the third quarter of 2025.
• Consumables Revenue — $20.8 million, representing a 3% sequential increase from $20.1 million as customers began transitioning to the SPRQ-Nx chemistry.
• Instrument Revenue — $13.2 million, an increase of 16% from $11.3 million driven by Revio placements in EMEA and higher Vega shipments.
• Revio Placements — 15 units, bringing the cumulative installed base to 381 systems since launch.
• Vega Placements — 35 units, representing 9% growth year over year and a 35% sequential increase, with over 90% of shipments going to new customers.
• Revio Pull-through — $204,000 per system, as customers consume existing inventory and validate multi-use workflows during the SPRQ-Nx transition.
• Non-GAAP Gross Margin — 36%, down from 42% in the prior year period primarily because of higher memory costs and manufacturing transition costs for the Vega platform.
• Non-GAAP Operating Expenses — $47 million, a 13% decrease from $53.9 million reflecting restructuring initiatives and personnel reductions.
• Non-GAAP Net Loss — $32.8 million or $0.11 per share, compared to $36.8 million or $0.12 per share in the prior year period.
• Unrestricted Cash — $199.4 million as of Sept. 30, 2026, compared with $279.5 million at the end of 2025.
• Full Year Revenue Guidance — $155 million to $160 million, narrowed from previous expectations as the company monitors capital spending trends.
• Full Year Operating Expense Guidance — $203 million to $207 million, lowered from the prior range of $215 million to $220 million due to restructuring savings.
• Americas Revenue — $18.2 million, where a 24% decline in instrument revenue was offset by 9% growth in consumables revenue.
• EMEA Revenue — $14 million, representing 30% growth driven by strong clinical adoption and multisystem Revio orders.
• Asia Pacific Revenue — $8.3 million, a 13% decline year over year but a 19% sequential improvement as activity in China began to recover.
• Headcount — 445 employees, down from 491 at the end of the third quarter of 2025 following restructuring efforts.
• Clinical Consumables Growth — over 20% year over year, with the clinical segment now accounting for more than 20% of total revenue.
• Restructuring Savings — $15 million to $20 million in expected annual compensation-related savings beginning in 2027.
• Development Savings — $15 million to $20 million in annual savings anticipated as high-throughput platform research and development spending winds down.
• SPRQ-Nx Adoption — over 50% of Revio consumable revenue, with two-thirds of the installed base having upgraded software to support the new chemistry.

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RISKS

• Meyer stated, “Instrument revenue declined approximately 24% as ongoing NIH and broader academic funding uncertainty continue to weigh on capital purchasing decisions,” highlighting challenges in the Americas market.
• Meyer noted that “Non-GAAP gross margin declined primarily due to higher memory costs and Vega manufacturing transition costs,” during the quarter.

SUMMARY

Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. (PACB -2.55%) reported third quarter revenue growth of 6% and progressed its transition to the SPRQ-Nx chemistry, which now accounts for more than half of Revio consumable sales. Management narrowed full-year revenue guidance and lowered operating expense targets following organizational restructuring intended to align costs with strategic priorities in clinical genomics and artificial intelligence. The company established new collaborations with GeneDx and Berry Genomics to expand its footprint in the rare disease diagnostic market while partnering with Verily and TychoBio to provide high-fidelity genomic data for AI model development. Management stated that the development of its upcoming high-throughput platform remains on track for a commercial launch by the end of next year.

• Van Oene stated, “Our USD 345 list price for 20x HiFi human genome has also helped us finalize multiple strategic deals that validate our thesis on the role of PacBio HiFi in clinical genomics and AI.”
• The company reported that two-thirds of the Revio installed base has opted to upgrade software to support the new SPRQ-Nx chemistry, which is expected to drive higher utilization through improved economics.
• The strategic collaboration with Verily Health connects HiFi long-read genomic data with real-world clinical records at population scale to create AI-ready data sets for discovery and model training.
• Berry Genomics added 10 Revio systems to support a five-year national rare disease program in China, intended to increase diagnostic rates for patients whose disease went undiagnosed after short-read exome sequencing.
• TychoBio plans to use HiFi and Kinnex long-read RNA sequencing across more than 10,000 samples to train models to predict RNA therapy efficacy and duration of effect.
• Management expects annual savings of $15 million to $20 million from reduced compensation expenses and an additional $15 million to $20 million as high-throughput platform development costs decline.

INDUSTRY GLOSSARY

• HiFi: Highly accurate long-read sequencing technology that provides a complete view of genomes by reading DNA molecules multiple times.
• Kinnex: A protocol used for full-length RNA sequencing to capture complex genetic isoforms and splicing variation.
• Pull-through: A financial metric representing the average amount of consumables revenue generated per installed instrument over a specific period.
• Revio: A high-throughput long-read sequencing system designed to scale genomic projects efficiently.
• SMRT: Single molecule real-time sequencing technology, the proprietary foundational technology of PacBio systems.
• SPRQ-Nx: A high-efficiency chemistry kit designed for use with the Revio and Vega systems to lower the cost per genome.
• Vega: A benchtop genomic sequencing system designed for targeted long-read applications and clinical labs.

Full Conference Call Transcript

Operator: Good day, and welcome to the PacBio Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Marissa Bych, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Marissa Bych: Good afternoon, and welcome to PacBio’s third quarter 2026 earnings conference call. With me today are Mark Van Oene, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Bill Meyer, Chief Accounting Officer. Earlier today, we issued a press release outlining the financial results we’ll be discussing o

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