PacBio Shares Fall 14 Percent on News of Flat Q1 Revenue
The long-read sequencing firm posted record consumable revenue for the quarter but said instrument sales, particularly for the benchtop Vega, fell short of expectations.
Pacific Biosciences shares fell 14 percent after the company reported that its first quarter revenue was flat year over year, driven by lower-than-expected benchtop sequencing instrument revenue.
On May 7, the Menlo Park, California-based long-read DNA sequencing technology company reported Q1 2026 revenue of $37.2 million, unchanged from a year ago, missing the consensus Wall Street estimate of $40.0 million.
“We continue to see increasing clinical adoption of HiFi which contributed to another record quarter for consumable revenue. However, instrument revenue, particularly Vega, was lower than we had expected,” CEO Christian Henry said in a statement.
Consumables revenue rose 8 percent to $21.8 million from $20.1 million a year ago, a record for the company. Instrument revenue fell 12 percent to $9.7 million from $11.0 million a year ago. Service and other revenue declined 7 percent to $5.6 million from $6.0 million a year ago. During the quarter, PacBio placed 15 Revio systems and 27 Vega systems, compared to 12 Revio and 28 Vega placements a year ago.
The company’s net loss for the quarter was $8.3 million, or $.03 per share, compared to a loss of $426.1 million, or $1.44 per share, in Q1 2025. The prior-year figure included $381.8 million in restructuring charges. Adjusted loss was $.12 per share, beating the consensus Wall Street estimate of $.13 loss per share.
PacBio’s R&D expenses fell 32 percent year over year to $19.6 million from $29.1 million in Q1 2025. SG&A expenses fell 22 percent to $31.2 million from $40.2 million a year ago.
PacBio recorded $15.4 million in litigation settlement charges and related legal fees during the quarter in connection with a binding term sheet entered into with Personal Genomics of Taiwan. The company also recorded a $45.8 million gain on the sale of its short-read sequencing assets.
As of March 31, PacBio had $276.0 million in cash and investments and $1.6 million in restricted cash.
PacBio full-year 2026 revenue guidance of $165 million to $175 million.