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PACB Stock Falls Despite Q3 Earnings Beat, Revenues Decline Y/Y

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Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. (PACB - Free Report) , popularly known as PacBio, delivered an adjusted third-quarter 2024 loss per share of 17 cents, narrower than the year-ago quarter’s loss of 27 cents. The adjusted loss per share beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 15%.

The company’s GAAP loss per share was 22 cents in the quarter, narrower than the year-ago period’s loss of 26 cents.

Stay up-to-date with all quarterly releases: See Zacks Earnings Calendar.

Revenues in Detail

PacBio registered revenues of $40 million, down 28.2% year over year. The figure missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 4.6%.

Geographical Analysis

PacBio’s revenues from the Americas totaled $20.1 million, down 31% year over year. This was primarily due to a decline in Revio shipments.

In the Asia-Pacific region, PacBio recorded revenues of 10.8 million, reflecting a decline of 32% year over year.

Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region registered revenues of $9.1 million, which decreased 17% year over year.

Segmental Analysis

Product revenues amounted to $35.3 million, up 11.2% from the year-ago level.

PacBio shipped 22 Revio sequencing systems in the third quarter, which brought the company’s installed base to 247 Revio systems as of Sept. 30, 2024.

Instrument revenues amounted to $16.8 million, down 51.6% year over year. This decrease was due to lower Revio unit shipments.

Consumable revenues for the third quarter totaled $18.5 million, up 9.5% from the prior-year level.

Service and other revenues amounted to $4.7 million, up 9.5% year over year.

Margin Trend

PacBio’s adjusted gross profit decreased 28.1% to $13 million. However, the adjusted gross margin expanded 100 basis points year over year to 33%.
Sales, general and administrative expenses rose 0.7% to $43.7 million. Research and development expenses declined 46.3% year over year to $25.5 million. Adjusted total operating expenses of $62.4 million declined 31% year over year.

Total operating loss was $64.1 million in the reported quarter, narrower than the prior-year quarter’s loss of $82.5 million.

Financial Position

PacBio exited third-quarter 2024 with cash, cash equivalents and investments (excluding short-term and long-term restricted cash) of $471.1 million compared with $509.8 million at the end of the second quarter of 2024.

Guidance

PacBio revised its revenue outlook for 2024.

The company now expects fourth-quarter revenues to be flat to slightly up compared to the third quarter of 2024.

Full-year revenues are anticipated to be lower than the company’s previous estimate of $170 million. The Zacks Consensus Estimate is pegged at $168.1 million.

Management also expects fourth-quarter Consumable revenues to grow sequentially.

Our Take

PacBio exited the third quarter of 2024 with mixed results, wherein earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate but revenues missed the same.

PACB saw an uptick in Product, Service and other, and Consumable revenues. However, geographically, revenues declined in the Americas, Asia-Pacific region and EMEA, which seems concerning. A decrease in adjusted gross profit does not bode well for the stock. However, continued strong prospects in the Revio system, with customers placing orders for these, look promising for the stock.

During the third quarter, Myriad Genetics acquired its first Revio system. This company plans to use PacBio's PureTarget kit to develop a high-throughput automated targeted sequencing panel.

Per management, GenieUs Genomics is also using Revio in a Phase 2 clinical trial with Duke Health and Temple Health to attest and further develop its bioinformatics platform.

In October, PACB announced signing a new Research Collaboration Agreement with the National Cancer Centre of Singapore. This collaboration is aimed at accelerating cancer research by leveraging PacBio’s advanced sequencing technologies, including the innovative Onso short-read sequencing platform, to profile the genomic landscape of prevalent cancers in Asia.

Yet, the continued loss per share reported by PacBio was disappointing. The year-over-year decline in Instrument revenues was concerning. The year-over-year adjusted operating loss is another area of concern. Shares were down 14.7% during after-market trading. The stock plunged 75.1% year to date against the industry’s 6.3% growth and the S&P 500’s 24.7% increase.

Zacks Investment Research
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Zacks Rank and Key Picks

PacBio currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked stocks in the broader medical space are AngioDynamics (ANGO - Free Report) , Quest Diagnostics (DGX - Free Report) and RadNet (RDNT - Free Report) , each carrying a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

ANGO’s earnings surpassed estimates in three of the trailing four quarters and missed once, delivering an average surprise of 31.71%.

AngioDynamics’ shares have lost 19.2% year to date against the industry’s6.1% growth.

Quest Diagnostics has an estimated long-term growth rate of 6.8%. DGX's earnings surpassed estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 3.3%.

Quest Diagnostics’ shares have risen 42% year to date compared with the industry's 14.9% growth.

RadNet’s earnings surpassed estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 98.2%.

RDNT’s shares have soared 93.7% year to date compared with the industry’s 14.8% growth.


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