NASDAQ:TKNO Alpha Teknova Q1 2026 Earnings Report $3.89 +0.02 (+0.52%) Closing price 05/22/2026 04:00 PM EasternExtended Trading$3.90 +0.00 (+0.13%) As of 05/22/2026 04:10 PM Eastern Extended trading is trading that happens on electronic markets outside of regular trading hours. This is a fair market value extended hours price provided by Massive. Learn more. ProfileEarnings HistoryForecast Alpha Teknova EPS ResultsActual EPS-$0.08Consensus EPS -$0.09Beat/MissBeat by +$0.01One Year Ago EPSN/AAlpha Teknova Revenue ResultsActual Revenue$11.08 millionExpected Revenue$10.23 millionBeat/MissBeat by +$851.00 thousandYoY Revenue GrowthN/AAlpha Teknova Announcement DetailsQuarterQ1 2026Date5/6/2026TimeAfter Market ClosesConference Call DateWednesday, May 6, 2026Conference Call Time6:00PM ETUpcoming EarningsAlpha Teknova's Q2 2026 earnings is estimated for Thursday, August 6, 2026, based on past reporting schedules, with a conference call scheduled on Friday, August 7, 2026 at 4:00 PM ET. Check back for transcripts, audio, and key financial metrics as they become available.Conference Call ResourcesConference Call AudioConference Call TranscriptSlide DeckPress Release (8-K)Quarterly Report (10-Q)Earnings HistoryCompany ProfileSlide DeckFull Screen Slide DeckPowered by Alpha Teknova Q1 2026 Earnings Call TranscriptProvided by QuartrMay 6, 2026 ShareLink copied to clipboard.Key Takeaways Positive Sentiment: Revenue rose 13% YoY, led by an 85% increase in Clinical Solutions, with Q1 topping $11M and more large orders (> $25k) indicating stronger customer execution. Positive Sentiment: Management is increasing commercial spend by roughly $2M annually to hire sales and marketing talent and boost lead generation, expecting this to start lifting revenue by early 2027 and targeting ~20% revenue growth in 2027. Positive Sentiment: Operational improvements—tripling high-volume batch sizes, installing an automated aseptic filling line, and digitizing ~90% of paper batch records—should improve scalability, reduce labor per unit, and support margin expansion. Negative Sentiment: The company remains unprofitable with a Q1 net loss of $4.6M, adjusted EBITDA of negative $2.0M, and Q1 free cash outflow of $3.6M, and while full‑year FCF is expected to be < $10M, cash usage continues. AI Generated. May Contain Errors.Conference Call Audio Live Call not available Earnings Conference CallAlpha Teknova Q1 202600:00 / 00:00Speed:1x1.25x1.5x2xTranscript SectionsPresentationParticipantsPresentationSkip to Participants Operator00:00:00Hello, welcome to Teknova first quarter 2026 financial results. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star one one on your telephone. You will hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. I will now like to hand the conference over to Jennifer Henry, Senior Vice President of Marketing. You may begin. Jennifer HenrySVP of Marketing at Alpha Teknova00:00:32Thank you, operator. Welcome to Teknova's first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. With me on today's call are Stephen Gunstream, Teknova's President and Chief Executive Officer, and Matt Lowell, Teknova's Chief Financial Officer, who will make prepared remarks and then take your questions. As a reminder, the forward-looking statements that we make during this call, including those regarding business goals and expectations for the financial performance of the company, are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual events or results to differ. Additional information concerning these risk factors is included in the press release the company issued earlier today, and they are more fully described in the company's various filings with the SEC. Today's comments reflect the company's current views, which could change as a result of new information, future events, or other factors. Jennifer HenrySVP of Marketing at Alpha Teknova00:01:25The company does not obligate or commit itself to update its forward-looking statements except as required by law. The company's management believes that in addition to GAAP results, non-GAAP financial measures can provide meaningful insight when evaluating the company's financial performance and the effectiveness of its business strategies. We will therefore use non-GAAP financial measures of certain of our results during this call. Reconciliations of GAAP to non-GAAP financial measures are included in the press release that we issued this afternoon, which is posted to Teknova's website and at www.sec.gov/edgar. Non-GAAP financial measures should always be considered only as a supplement to, and not as a substitute for or as superior to, financial measures prepared in accordance with GAAP. The non-GAAP financial measures in this presentation may differ from similarly named non-GAAP financial measures used by other companies. Jennifer HenrySVP of Marketing at Alpha Teknova00:02:24Please also be advised that the company has posted a supplemental slide deck to accompany today's prepared remarks. It can be accessed on the investor relations section of Teknova's website and on today's webcast. Now I will turn the call over to Stephen. Stephen GunstreamPresident and CEO at Alpha Teknova00:02:40Thank you, Jen. Good afternoon, everyone for joining us for our first quarter 2026 earnings call. It was a relatively straightforward quarter for us across the board, with revenue and operating expenses delivering in line with or better than our expectations. Revenue grew 13% compared to the same period last year, led by 85% growth in Clinical Solutions. Gross margin, operating expenses, and free cash outflow were in line with our expectations, including the planned incremental spend in sales and marketing. From a macro environment perspective, we continue to see stabilization across our end markets. As we learn more about how our customers are planning for late-stage clinical trials and commercial production, we are growing increasingly confident in our ability to deliver long-term, sustainable above-market growth. Stephen GunstreamPresident and CEO at Alpha Teknova00:03:38Building on that, I would like to provide a little more detail around our thoughts on the current macro environment. In the first quarter, we saw an increase in the number and total dollar value of orders over $25,000 compared to the same period last year, which we believe indicates that some of our customers are shifting their focus from cash conservation to strategic execution. While there are still accounts focused on conserving capital, we believe this headwind has now been offset by an increase in customers placing orders to move their research and clinical studies forward. Notably, we are seeing growth in nearly every end market segment we serve, including life science tools, diagnostics, and biopharma. Some of our leading indicators, such as customer engagement and funnel health, provide us more confidence in a predictable market backdrop going forward. Stephen GunstreamPresident and CEO at Alpha Teknova00:04:35We are therefore encouraged that we begin ramping our commercial investment at the beginning of 2026. As a reminder, the roughly $2 million annual increase in commercial spend is split between marketing and sales to increase lead generation activities, build lead qualification infrastructure, and onboard sales associates with experience in tools, diagnostics, and large pharma. I'm happy to say that these initiatives are on track and that we should be able to see their impact on revenue by early 2027. We believe these investments, combined with the rebound in biotech funding and the progression of our customers' therapies and diagnostics towards commercialization, should position us for approximately 20% revenue growth in 2027. Operationally, we continue to focus on driving efficiency through process improvements, automation, and software implementation. Stephen GunstreamPresident and CEO at Alpha Teknova00:05:30In the first quarter, we increased our high-volume bottle production by tripling our single batch size and implementing an automated aseptic filling line. This project allows us to not only scale production volumes, but also to reduce labor hours per unit. From a software perspective, we have now migrated 90% of our 3,000+ paper batch records to digital, providing enhanced data analytics, increased visibility, better documentation quality, and improved standardization. We are fortunate to have dedicated engineering and software development teams on staff to lead these initiatives as we look to scale and achieve profitability. In the meantime, we remain focused on executing our plan by driving growth in Lab Essentials customer wallet share and increasing our active Clinical Solutions customer count. Stephen GunstreamPresident and CEO at Alpha Teknova00:06:23We are excited about the traction we are seeing so far in 2026, and believe the substantial investments we've made over the past three years have positioned the company to scale and generate significant value for our customers and stockholders alike. I will now hand the call over to Matt to talk through the financials. Matt LowellCFO at Alpha Teknova00:06:43Thanks, Stephen. Good afternoon, everyone. As Stephen explained, revenue was up 13% for the first quarter of 2026 compared to the same quarter prior year. This was also the first Q1 in which we earned over $11 million in revenue in nearly three years. I'm also very pleased with our progress on key profitability measures and cash usage. Overall, we delivered strong financial results for the first quarter of 2026. For revenue, Lab Essentials products are targeted at the research use only or RUO market and include both catalog and custom products. Lab Essentials revenue was $8.4 million in the first quarter of 2026, up 3% compared to $8.1 million in the first quarter of 2025. The increase in Lab Essentials revenue was attributable to higher average revenue per customer, partially offset by a decreased number of customers. Matt LowellCFO at Alpha Teknova00:07:44Clinical Solutions products are made according to good manufacturing practices or GMP quality standards and are primarily used by our customers as components or inputs in the development and manufacture of diagnostic and therapeutic products. Clinical Solutions revenue was $2.1 million excuse me, for their first quarter of 2026, an 85% increase from $1.2 million in the first quarter of 2025. The increase in Clinical Solutions revenue was attributable to an increased number of customers and, to a slightly lesser extent, higher average revenue per customer. We expect revenue per customer to increase over time when a subset of these customers ramp up their purchase volume as they move through the clinical phases. Excuse me. This metric can be affected by the addition of newer Clinical Solutions or GMP catalog customers who typically order less. Matt LowellCFO at Alpha Teknova00:08:48Just as a reminder, due to the larger average order size in Clinical Solutions compared to Lab Essentials, there can be more quarter-to-quarter revenue lumpiness in this category. Onto the income statement. Gross profit for the first quarter of 2026 was $3.8 million, compared to $3.0 million in the first quarter of 2025. Gross margin was 34.2% in the first quarter of 2026, which is up from 30.7% in the first quarter of 2025. The increase in gross profit was driven primarily by higher revenue. Operating expenses for the first quarter of 2026 were $8.1 million and for the first quarter of 2025 were $8.0 million. Matt LowellCFO at Alpha Teknova00:09:40The increase in 2026 was primarily driven by higher spending in sales and marketing, resulting from higher headcount and increased marketing expenses, partially offset by lower general administrative expenses attributable to lower stock-based compensation expense and professional fees. Net loss for the first quarter of 2026 was $4.6 million or -$0.08 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $4.6 million or -$0.09 per diluted share for the first quarter of 2025. Adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP measure, was -$2.0 million for the first quarter of 2026, compared to -$2.5 million for the first quarter of 2025. Capital expenditures for the first quarter of 2026 and 2025 were both $0.2 million. Matt LowellCFO at Alpha Teknova00:10:43Free cash outflow, a non-GAAP measure which we define as cash provided by or used in operating activities, less purchases of property, plant, and equipment, was $3.6 million for the first quarter of 2026, compared to $4.3 million for the first quarter of 2025. This decrease compared to prior year was due to lower cash used in operating activities. Turning to the balance sheet, as of March 31st, 2026, we had $17.8 million in cash equivalents, and short-term investments, and $13.2 million in total borrowings. 2026 outlook. Turning to our 2026 guidance and outlook, we are reiterating our 2026 total revenue guidance of $42 million-$44 million. At the midpoint, this implies approximately 6% revenue growth compared to 2025. Matt LowellCFO at Alpha Teknova00:11:44As our underlying end markets continue to recover, we have seen improvement in orders of custom products from both biopharma and life science tools and diagnostics customers. Customer conversations about future 2026 custom product orders continue to be encouraging, and we have started to see more large orders, those greater than $25,000. Are waiting to see more durability before we consider adjusting our guidance for the year. As we have indicated before, due to the high percentage of fixed costs associated with our operations, we estimate that each additional dollar of revenue drops through at a marginal cash rate of approximately 70%, with some variability quarter to quarter in reported results due to GAAP accounting. We continue to expect gross margin in the mid thirties % range for the full year 2026. Matt LowellCFO at Alpha Teknova00:12:44The company posted operating expenses of $8.1 million in Q1 2026, which reflects our scaled investment in sales and marketing, which we expect to be approximately $2 million for the full year 2026. Our expectation is that these investments will pay off as soon as the end of 2026, but more likely in 2027 in the form of double-digit revenue growth rates. At this higher spending level, we expect to become Adjusted EBITDA positive in the range of $52 million-$57 million in annualized revenue. If customer end markets are stronger in 2027 and our stepped up commercial activity bears fruit as expected, we should report a positive Adjusted EBITDA quarter by the end of 2027. Matt LowellCFO at Alpha Teknova00:13:32The company continues to see a reduction in free cash outflow during the first quarter of 2026 compared to the same quarter in the prior year. While the company saw an increase in free cash outflow compared to the fourth quarter of 2025, this is consistent with the company's expectations for the year and is higher due to certain larger payments typically occurring during the first quarter. We anticipate lower average quarterly free cash outflow for the remainder of the year. The company continues to expect free cash outflow of less than $10 million for the full year 2026, even with the increased investment in our commercial capabilities. With that, I will turn the call back to Stephen. Stephen GunstreamPresident and CEO at Alpha Teknova00:14:19Thanks, Matt. Overall, we were very pleased with the start to 2026 and the progress we've made against our strategic priorities. We believe the outlook for our end markets remains positive, and we are committed to executing on our strategy to help our customers accelerate the introduction of novel therapies, diagnostics, and other products that improve human health. We will now take your questions. Operator00:14:46Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, as a reminder to ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone, then wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Our first question comes from the line of Mac Etoch with Stephens. Your line is open. Mac EtochAnalyst at Stephens00:15:12Hey, good afternoon, and thank you for taking my questions. You know, great to hear about the updated macro outlook. You know, I've heard some of your peers talk about maybe a little bit of a bifurcation between earlier stage biotech and later stage biotech. I'd just love to get your sense of, you know, what you're hearing at this point from these individual customers or if you're seeing a similar trend in your customer base. Thank you. Stephen GunstreamPresident and CEO at Alpha Teknova00:15:38Yeah, thanks, Mac. In some ways, yes, we're seeing some similarities, right? We had some nice large pharma growth in the quarter. But on the clinical side of our business, we did still see some of these earlier stage, phase I, phase II, place some nice orders with us. A lot of that probably has to do with the work we've been doing with them for some time. In the very early stage, on the research side, in the Lab Essentials, there is a little softness there, but we haven't seen it as much. It could just be some of the accounts that we're supporting today, but we're starting to get more customer engagement from these smaller biotechs. It's, it's looking pretty encouraging right now. Mac EtochAnalyst at Stephens00:16:19Appreciate that. As we think about just your general different end markets that you serve, it sounds like all of them are kind of coming back together as one. Are there any that are leading the pack more so than others? Stephen GunstreamPresident and CEO at Alpha Teknova00:16:36Yeah, like I just mentioned, we had some nice growth in large pharma in the quarter. We did get some nice growth in the diagnostic side as well, in the tools and diagnostics, but particularly on the liquid biopsy, we had some nice orders come in there. We're seeing some growth there. I think, like I said, the biopharma as a whole is a little bit slower, but you're starting to see some growth there. There are certainly pockets where we expect that to increase throughout the year. Mac EtochAnalyst at Stephens00:17:05I appreciate the color. Operator00:17:07Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Brendan Smith with TD Cowen. Your line is open. Brendan SmithAnalyst at TD Cowen00:17:17Great. Thanks for taking the questions, guys. Congrats on the quarter. Maybe actually, excuse me, just following up actually on that previous question a little bit more, and kind of the commentary regarding customers advancing through clinical development. I think you flagged it both within kind of the biopharma and tools and Dx guys. I guess, do you have a sense maybe what kind of proportion, even like broad strokes, what percent of customers are in that, you know, preclinical phase I bucket versus those in phase III or kind of approaching commercial? I guess I'm just kind of wondering how that funnel is looking at this point, excuse me, just especially as the funding environment continues to improve. Thanks. Stephen GunstreamPresident and CEO at Alpha Teknova00:17:53Yeah, Brendan, it's not that different than what we put out in our slides for the 2025 full year. We are supporting approximately 70 therapies. There are five therapies in phase II or phase III that are nearing completion at the moment. 12 in phase I, and then the rest are preclinical. You know, I think we'd expect the number to increase as we go throughout this year. I mean, that's our strategy as you onboard more of these clinical customers. Certainly if the biotech funding comes back, we'd expect that to continue. We've done that really since, you know, since we started targeting these clinical customers back in 2020. Brendan SmithAnalyst at TD Cowen00:18:39Got it. Okay, great. Maybe just kind of a quick follow-up. I think, you know, we've started to see some increases in maybe wet lab spending activity, actually as a result of, it seems like kind of rolling out some of their own AI capabilities internally and kind of needing to validate those models and all the new target sets they're starting to get. It feels like it's still quite early, but I guess, do you have any sense of this materializing in any way kind of within your customers' ordering patterns? Is there any reason maybe why that wouldn't be kind of a notable tailwind for Teknova over the coming quarters? Just kind of any incremental color on how you guys are thinking about that. Thanks. Stephen GunstreamPresident and CEO at Alpha Teknova00:19:15Yeah. I think these AI data generation programs are significant, it's lots of reagents, right? They're generating significant amounts of data. We are supporting many of the customers that are supporting the end users here to generate that data or directly. The standard products we offer in our catalog products, like the LB broth, grow bacteria or the buffers and things to purify proteins, I would expect that to be a tailwind for us. There are customers we're supporting that we are seeing pick up their spend with us for those reasons, it's not yet, you know, a significant material. Brendan SmithAnalyst at TD Cowen00:19:54Got it. All right. Great. Thanks, guys. Operator00:19:57Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Matt Larew with William Blair. Your line is open. Matt LarewAnalyst at William Blair00:20:06Hi, good afternoon. Matt, the, you know, nice upside in the quarter relative to certainly the street, the guide was maintained. You referenced wanting to see more durability there before changing the guide. It does seem like more companies than normal have called out, you know, benefit from more days in the quarter that reverses later in the year. Just curious if there was any, you know, timing impact like that or any orders that got pulled forward into the print or if indeed it's just an effort to be conservative given the broader macro picture. Matt LowellCFO at Alpha Teknova00:20:46Right. Good question, Matt. I would say, I mean, we do have some of this phenomenon where we have, you know, business days impacts, particularly the catalog portion of our business, which again is about 60% of the total business. I would say that was not really a factor for Q1. It will be and usually is for Q4. I would say we saw pretty typical ordering and delivery type of behavior in Q1, I don't think there's anything that's really impacted unusually here. Matt LowellCFO at Alpha Teknova00:21:19As you noted, and I did as well, that, I mean, there is still macro uncertainty and while we're off to a good start here, we're, you know, certainly optimistic, but not ready to suggest that there could be, you know, in to increase our guidance range at this time. It's definitely something that we're, you know, evaluating each quarter here and it's encouraging to have this great start. Matt LarewAnalyst at William Blair00:21:47Okay. You know, you brought up Stephen, 2027, in your remarks to be in position for 20% revenue growth. You know, if I look at sort of TTM revenue at this point, certainly has improved over, you know, sort of one year ago, particularly on the Clinical Solutions side, and Lab Essentials has stabilized at least in the mid-single digits. As you think about kind of where we're at from a TTM perspective today to how you get to 20% in 2027, what elements, you know, do you see improving the most? Certainly, you called out things like larger orders today and improving funnel, you know, where do you think the 20% comes from for next year, relative to today? Thanks. Stephen GunstreamPresident and CEO at Alpha Teknova00:22:39Yeah. I think a couple of things come into play. First is, you know, an improving backdrop, right? We've seen the biotech funding now two quarters ahead of where it's been. We've shown and from past data, and we think it's pretty similar this time, that we will start seeing an impact from about a four-quarter lag, three to four-quarter lag in that. We're expecting to see that towards the end of next year. I think that will drive a portion of that growth. The baseline's kind of picking up a little bit. On the clinical side, you know, we are supporting more customers, and there's more of them moving later into the pipeline, including we'd expect either a diagnostic or therapeutic commercial approval by the end of next year. Stephen GunstreamPresident and CEO at Alpha Teknova00:23:23That, you know, even them moving from phase I to phase II or phase II to phase III or phase III obviously into commercial, you know, those will drive significant growth. That base is relatively small. That actually true on the, on the diagnostic side. You know, there's a couple in there in the leukapheresis side that we may be supporting larger volumes for next year. In addition, you know, this investment we make on the commercial side, both on the marketing and on the people in the field, you know, that will take six months to 12 months to ramp up and that will help us as well. You know, that historical Lab Essentials business has grown 11% on average since 2008. Stephen GunstreamPresident and CEO at Alpha Teknova00:24:07That mid-single digit, I think we start to see that pick up a little bit and then combined with these other things, should get us into that 20%. Matt LarewAnalyst at William Blair00:24:17All right. Thanks, Stephen. Operator00:24:20Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Matt Hewitt with Craig-Hallum Capital Group. Your line is open. Matt HewittAnalyst at Craig-Hallum Capital Group00:24:27Good afternoon, congratulations to the nice start of the year. Regarding the Clinical Solutions, obviously a phenomenal Q1, up 85% year-on-year. I'm just curious if there was anything to call out within that. Was there a larger order that kinda drove some of that? Was it more broad-based? You noted several large orders, was that really it? How should we be thinking about cadence for that bucket over the remainder of the year? Stephen GunstreamPresident and CEO at Alpha Teknova00:24:55Yeah, I'll let Matt touch on the cadence in a minute. Just when you look at the customers we supported in Q1, and we talk about this a lot, about the lumpiness. I think, you know, the question's right. Say, is this just a lumpy quarter, or is this something that is more broad-based? In this case, it is more broad-based. In fact, we had a fairly large customer last year order, and now we came over that. Then, you know, a number of customers here that we delivered for in Q1. I would say it's pretty positive on our side that this one is not just a one-time lumpy piece that we're having for a quarter. I'll let Matt talk a little bit about the cadence for the rest of the year. Matt LowellCFO at Alpha Teknova00:25:30Right. I just echo what Stephen said. I think we're feeling pretty good about the diversity in that part of the business in Q1, and also based on the discussions we're having now for the rest of the year. I think that's an area where we should continue to see, you know, that at these kind of levels or, you know, let's just say in the $2 million range a quarter or better, depending on how things go later in the year. That's definitely going to be an important component of growth this year. All to say that, yeah, I think that part is looking good, and we should continue to see, you know, good results in that part of the business. Matt HewittAnalyst at Craig-Hallum Capital Group00:26:12That's great. Shifting gears a little bit, with some of the investments that you've been making, digitizing, all the paper, some of the investments in, you know, creating larger batch sizes. As I think about your target, you know, 60%-65% gross margins in a few years, how much of that's gonna come from volume leverage versus some of these new strategic decisions that you've been making, you know, the past year to kinda help with the gross margin lift? Matt LowellCFO at Alpha Teknova00:26:46Yeah, that's a good question, Matt. I do believe that the single biggest driver is and will continue to be volume growth. Obviously, we're not just gonna, you know, sit and rest on our laurels and wait for that to play out. There's lots of other things we can be doing and are doing. That's the example you gave there, is a good one. They are meaningful. These are not trivial things. There are sometimes they can play out as productivity benefits where we see that benefit more as we grow than immediately in terms of a cost reduction. It can just mean we have cost restraint as we grow. Matt LowellCFO at Alpha Teknova00:27:24We have that digitization and a lot of other projects always going on, and there's just a never-ending bucket of opportunities to do that. I wouldn't want to. I would still say that the main driver is volume growth. From what we're seeing, that's happening right now. We're excited about it. Matt HewittAnalyst at Craig-Hallum Capital Group00:27:48Got it. All right. Thank you. Operator00:27:52Thank you. Please stand by for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Matthew Parisi with KeyBanc Capital Markets. Your line is open. Matthew ParisiAnalyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets00:28:04Hi. Yes, this is Matthew Parisi on for Paul Knight. Congrats on the quarter, and thanks for the question. You mentioned the onboarding of new sales associates during the call, and I was just wondering how long that ramp period takes. Stephen GunstreamPresident and CEO at Alpha Teknova00:28:17I think, typically, in my experience, you know, this is six to 12 months until you really start to see the impact from that. I think I mentioned in here that probably towards the end of this year, we'll be able to see that. We're starting to see some early indicators with, you know, more meetings, more engagement with some of the target accounts that we're after. It's been great to onboard them, and we're very happy we started in January. I think all is going to plan. Matthew ParisiAnalyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets00:28:46Thank you. That's all for me. Operator00:28:51Ladies and gentlemen, I'm showing no further questions in the queue. That concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.Read moreParticipantsExecutivesJennifer HenrySVP of MarketingMatt LowellCFOStephen GunstreamPresident and CEOAnalystsBrendan SmithAnalyst at TD CowenMac EtochAnalyst at StephensMatt HewittAnalyst at Craig-Hallum Capital GroupMatt LarewAnalyst at William BlairMatthew ParisiAnalyst at KeyBanc Capital MarketsPowered by Earnings DocumentsSlide DeckPress Release(8-K)Quarterly report(10-Q) Alpha Teknova Earnings HeadlinesAnalysts Offer Insights on Healthcare Companies: Alpha Teknova (TKNO) and REPRO-MED Systems (KRMD)May 9, 2026 | theglobeandmail.comAlpha Teknova, Inc. (NASDAQ:TKNO) Just Released Its First-Quarter Results And Analysts Are Updating Their EstimatesMay 9, 2026 | finance.yahoo.comYour $29.97 book is free todayWhy Some Traders Skip Stocks Entirely You don't need a big account to trade options. In fact, options can give you up to 12 times the leverage of stocks — with a fraction of the capital tied up. This free guide lays it all out in plain English — from A to Z, with step-by-step examples you can follow in your own account.May 23 at 1:00 AM | Profits Run (Ad)Alpha Teknova, Inc. (TKNO) Q1 2026 Earnings Call TranscriptMay 8, 2026 | seekingalpha.comAlpha Teknova Charts Cautious Path to 2027 GrowthMay 7, 2026 | tipranks.comAlpha Teknova (TKNO) Q1 2026 Earnings TranscriptMay 6, 2026 | finance.yahoo.comSee More Alpha Teknova Headlines Get Earnings Announcements in your inboxWant to stay updated on the latest earnings announcements and upcoming reports for companies like Alpha Teknova? Sign up for Earnings360's daily newsletter to receive timely earnings updates on Alpha Teknova and other key companies, straight to your email. Email Address About Alpha TeknovaAlpha Teknova (NASDAQ:TKNO) (NASDAQ: TKNO) is a life science tools and reagents company that develops, manufactures and distributes proprietary products to support research, drug discovery and biomanufacturing. Its offerings target academic institutions, pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms, and diagnostic developers, with a focus on high-purity reagents and optimized workflows designed to accelerate molecular biology and protein science applications. The company’s portfolio includes molecular biology reagents, cell culture buffers, in vitro translation kits, custom recombinant proteins, high-throughput screening buffers and other specialized formulations. Alpha Teknova also provides process development and scale-up manufacturing services for clients seeking tailored reagents or contract production, enabling seamless transition from bench-scale research to commercial-scale manufacturing. Headquartered in Hollister, California, Alpha Teknova serves a global customer base with sales and distribution channels across North America, Europe and Asia. Founded to streamline and enhance life science research, the company’s management team combines deep expertise in research, product development and commercial operations, positioning Alpha Teknova to address evolving needs in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors.View Alpha Teknova ProfileRead more More Earnings Resources from MarketBeat Earnings Tools Today's Earnings Tomorrow's Earnings Next Week's Earnings Upcoming Earnings Calls Earnings Newsletter Earnings Call Transcripts Earnings Beats & Misses Corporate Guidance Earnings Screener Latest Articles Was Decker’s Double Beat a Bullish Signal—Or Mere HOKA’s-Pocus?Workday Validates AI Flywheel: Stock Price Recovery BeginsOverextended, e.l.f. Beauty Is Primed to Rebound in Back HalfDeere Beats Q2 Estimates, But Ag Weakness Weighs on OutlookNVIDIA Price Pullback? Don’t Count on It, Business Is AcceleratingMeta Platforms 10% Layoff Raises a Bigger Question About AI SpendingBiogen Stock Slides After Trial Miss, But Analysts Stay Bullish Upcoming Earnings AutoZone (5/26/2026)Marvell Technology (5/27/2026)PDD (5/27/2026)Synopsys (5/27/2026)Bank Of Montreal (5/27/2026)Bank of Nova Scotia (5/27/2026)Salesforce (5/27/2026)Snowflake (5/27/2026)Autodesk (5/28/2026)Costco Wholesale (5/28/2026) Get 30 Days of MarketBeat All Access for Free Sign up for MarketBeat All Access to gain access to MarketBeat's full suite of research tools. Start Your 30-Day Trial MarketBeat All Access Features Best-in-Class Portfolio Monitoring Get personalized stock ideas. Compare portfolio to indices. Check stock news, ratings, SEC filings, and more. Stock Ideas and Recommendations See daily stock ideas from top analysts. Receive short-term trading ideas from MarketBeat. Identify trending stocks on social media. Advanced Stock Screeners and Research Tools Use our seven stock screeners to find suitable stocks. Stay informed with MarketBeat's real-time news. Export data to Excel for personal analysis. Sign in to your free account to enjoy these benefits In-depth profiles and analysis for 20,000 public companies. Real-time analyst ratings, insider transactions, earnings data, and more. Our daily ratings and market update email newsletter. Sign in to your free account to enjoy all that MarketBeat has to offer. Sign In Create Account Your Email Address: Email Address Required Your Password: Password Required Log In Email Me a Login Link or Sign in with Facebook Sign in with Google Forgot your password? Your Email Address: Please enter your email address. Please enter a valid email address Choose a Password: Please enter your password. Your password must be at least 8 characters long and contain at least 1 number, 1 letter, and 1 special character. Create My Account (Free) or Sign in with Facebook Sign in with Google By creating a free account, you agree to our terms of service. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
PresentationSkip to Participants Operator00:00:00Hello, welcome to Teknova first quarter 2026 financial results. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star one one on your telephone. You will hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. I will now like to hand the conference over to Jennifer Henry, Senior Vice President of Marketing. You may begin. Jennifer HenrySVP of Marketing at Alpha Teknova00:00:32Thank you, operator. Welcome to Teknova's first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. With me on today's call are Stephen Gunstream, Teknova's President and Chief Executive Officer, and Matt Lowell, Teknova's Chief Financial Officer, who will make prepared remarks and then take your questions. As a reminder, the forward-looking statements that we make during this call, including those regarding business goals and expectations for the financial performance of the company, are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual events or results to differ. Additional information concerning these risk factors is included in the press release the company issued earlier today, and they are more fully described in the company's various filings with the SEC. Today's comments reflect the company's current views, which could change as a result of new information, future events, or other factors. Jennifer HenrySVP of Marketing at Alpha Teknova00:01:25The company does not obligate or commit itself to update its forward-looking statements except as required by law. The company's management believes that in addition to GAAP results, non-GAAP financial measures can provide meaningful insight when evaluating the company's financial performance and the effectiveness of its business strategies. We will therefore use non-GAAP financial measures of certain of our results during this call. Reconciliations of GAAP to non-GAAP financial measures are included in the press release that we issued this afternoon, which is posted to Teknova's website and at www.sec.gov/edgar. Non-GAAP financial measures should always be considered only as a supplement to, and not as a substitute for or as superior to, financial measures prepared in accordance with GAAP. The non-GAAP financial measures in this presentation may differ from similarly named non-GAAP financial measures used by other companies. Jennifer HenrySVP of Marketing at Alpha Teknova00:02:24Please also be advised that the company has posted a supplemental slide deck to accompany today's prepared remarks. It can be accessed on the investor relations section of Teknova's website and on today's webcast. Now I will turn the call over to Stephen. Stephen GunstreamPresident and CEO at Alpha Teknova00:02:40Thank you, Jen. Good afternoon, everyone for joining us for our first quarter 2026 earnings call. It was a relatively straightforward quarter for us across the board, with revenue and operating expenses delivering in line with or better than our expectations. Revenue grew 13% compared to the same period last year, led by 85% growth in Clinical Solutions. Gross margin, operating expenses, and free cash outflow were in line with our expectations, including the planned incremental spend in sales and marketing. From a macro environment perspective, we continue to see stabilization across our end markets. As we learn more about how our customers are planning for late-stage clinical trials and commercial production, we are growing increasingly confident in our ability to deliver long-term, sustainable above-market growth. Stephen GunstreamPresident and CEO at Alpha Teknova00:03:38Building on that, I would like to provide a little more detail around our thoughts on the current macro environment. In the first quarter, we saw an increase in the number and total dollar value of orders over $25,000 compared to the same period last year, which we believe indicates that some of our customers are shifting their focus from cash conservation to strategic execution. While there are still accounts focused on conserving capital, we believe this headwind has now been offset by an increase in customers placing orders to move their research and clinical studies forward. Notably, we are seeing growth in nearly every end market segment we serve, including life science tools, diagnostics, and biopharma. Some of our leading indicators, such as customer engagement and funnel health, provide us more confidence in a predictable market backdrop going forward. Stephen GunstreamPresident and CEO at Alpha Teknova00:04:35We are therefore encouraged that we begin ramping our commercial investment at the beginning of 2026. As a reminder, the roughly $2 million annual increase in commercial spend is split between marketing and sales to increase lead generation activities, build lead qualification infrastructure, and onboard sales associates with experience in tools, diagnostics, and large pharma. I'm happy to say that these initiatives are on track and that we should be able to see their impact on revenue by early 2027. We believe these investments, combined with the rebound in biotech funding and the progression of our customers' therapies and diagnostics towards commercialization, should position us for approximately 20% revenue growth in 2027. Operationally, we continue to focus on driving efficiency through process improvements, automation, and software implementation. Stephen GunstreamPresident and CEO at Alpha Teknova00:05:30In the first quarter, we increased our high-volume bottle production by tripling our single batch size and implementing an automated aseptic filling line. This project allows us to not only scale production volumes, but also to reduce labor hours per unit. From a software perspective, we have now migrated 90% of our 3,000+ paper batch records to digital, providing enhanced data analytics, increased visibility, better documentation quality, and improved standardization. We are fortunate to have dedicated engineering and software development teams on staff to lead these initiatives as we look to scale and achieve profitability. In the meantime, we remain focused on executing our plan by driving growth in Lab Essentials customer wallet share and increasing our active Clinical Solutions customer count. Stephen GunstreamPresident and CEO at Alpha Teknova00:06:23We are excited about the traction we are seeing so far in 2026, and believe the substantial investments we've made over the past three years have positioned the company to scale and generate significant value for our customers and stockholders alike. I will now hand the call over to Matt to talk through the financials. Matt LowellCFO at Alpha Teknova00:06:43Thanks, Stephen. Good afternoon, everyone. As Stephen explained, revenue was up 13% for the first quarter of 2026 compared to the same quarter prior year. This was also the first Q1 in which we earned over $11 million in revenue in nearly three years. I'm also very pleased with our progress on key profitability measures and cash usage. Overall, we delivered strong financial results for the first quarter of 2026. For revenue, Lab Essentials products are targeted at the research use only or RUO market and include both catalog and custom products. Lab Essentials revenue was $8.4 million in the first quarter of 2026, up 3% compared to $8.1 million in the first quarter of 2025. The increase in Lab Essentials revenue was attributable to higher average revenue per customer, partially offset by a decreased number of customers. Matt LowellCFO at Alpha Teknova00:07:44Clinical Solutions products are made according to good manufacturing practices or GMP quality standards and are primarily used by our customers as components or inputs in the development and manufacture of diagnostic and therapeutic products. Clinical Solutions revenue was $2.1 million excuse me, for their first quarter of 2026, an 85% increase from $1.2 million in the first quarter of 2025. The increase in Clinical Solutions revenue was attributable to an increased number of customers and, to a slightly lesser extent, higher average revenue per customer. We expect revenue per customer to increase over time when a subset of these customers ramp up their purchase volume as they move through the clinical phases. Excuse me. This metric can be affected by the addition of newer Clinical Solutions or GMP catalog customers who typically order less. Matt LowellCFO at Alpha Teknova00:08:48Just as a reminder, due to the larger average order size in Clinical Solutions compared to Lab Essentials, there can be more quarter-to-quarter revenue lumpiness in this category. Onto the income statement. Gross profit for the first quarter of 2026 was $3.8 million, compared to $3.0 million in the first quarter of 2025. Gross margin was 34.2% in the first quarter of 2026, which is up from 30.7% in the first quarter of 2025. The increase in gross profit was driven primarily by higher revenue. Operating expenses for the first quarter of 2026 were $8.1 million and for the first quarter of 2025 were $8.0 million. Matt LowellCFO at Alpha Teknova00:09:40The increase in 2026 was primarily driven by higher spending in sales and marketing, resulting from higher headcount and increased marketing expenses, partially offset by lower general administrative expenses attributable to lower stock-based compensation expense and professional fees. Net loss for the first quarter of 2026 was $4.6 million or -$0.08 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $4.6 million or -$0.09 per diluted share for the first quarter of 2025. Adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP measure, was -$2.0 million for the first quarter of 2026, compared to -$2.5 million for the first quarter of 2025. Capital expenditures for the first quarter of 2026 and 2025 were both $0.2 million. Matt LowellCFO at Alpha Teknova00:10:43Free cash outflow, a non-GAAP measure which we define as cash provided by or used in operating activities, less purchases of property, plant, and equipment, was $3.6 million for the first quarter of 2026, compared to $4.3 million for the first quarter of 2025. This decrease compared to prior year was due to lower cash used in operating activities. Turning to the balance sheet, as of March 31st, 2026, we had $17.8 million in cash equivalents, and short-term investments, and $13.2 million in total borrowings. 2026 outlook. Turning to our 2026 guidance and outlook, we are reiterating our 2026 total revenue guidance of $42 million-$44 million. At the midpoint, this implies approximately 6% revenue growth compared to 2025. Matt LowellCFO at Alpha Teknova00:11:44As our underlying end markets continue to recover, we have seen improvement in orders of custom products from both biopharma and life science tools and diagnostics customers. Customer conversations about future 2026 custom product orders continue to be encouraging, and we have started to see more large orders, those greater than $25,000. Are waiting to see more durability before we consider adjusting our guidance for the year. As we have indicated before, due to the high percentage of fixed costs associated with our operations, we estimate that each additional dollar of revenue drops through at a marginal cash rate of approximately 70%, with some variability quarter to quarter in reported results due to GAAP accounting. We continue to expect gross margin in the mid thirties % range for the full year 2026. Matt LowellCFO at Alpha Teknova00:12:44The company posted operating expenses of $8.1 million in Q1 2026, which reflects our scaled investment in sales and marketing, which we expect to be approximately $2 million for the full year 2026. Our expectation is that these investments will pay off as soon as the end of 2026, but more likely in 2027 in the form of double-digit revenue growth rates. At this higher spending level, we expect to become Adjusted EBITDA positive in the range of $52 million-$57 million in annualized revenue. If customer end markets are stronger in 2027 and our stepped up commercial activity bears fruit as expected, we should report a positive Adjusted EBITDA quarter by the end of 2027. Matt LowellCFO at Alpha Teknova00:13:32The company continues to see a reduction in free cash outflow during the first quarter of 2026 compared to the same quarter in the prior year. While the company saw an increase in free cash outflow compared to the fourth quarter of 2025, this is consistent with the company's expectations for the year and is higher due to certain larger payments typically occurring during the first quarter. We anticipate lower average quarterly free cash outflow for the remainder of the year. The company continues to expect free cash outflow of less than $10 million for the full year 2026, even with the increased investment in our commercial capabilities. With that, I will turn the call back to Stephen. Stephen GunstreamPresident and CEO at Alpha Teknova00:14:19Thanks, Matt. Overall, we were very pleased with the start to 2026 and the progress we've made against our strategic priorities. We believe the outlook for our end markets remains positive, and we are committed to executing on our strategy to help our customers accelerate the introduction of novel therapies, diagnostics, and other products that improve human health. We will now take your questions. Operator00:14:46Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, as a reminder to ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone, then wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Our first question comes from the line of Mac Etoch with Stephens. Your line is open. Mac EtochAnalyst at Stephens00:15:12Hey, good afternoon, and thank you for taking my questions. You know, great to hear about the updated macro outlook. You know, I've heard some of your peers talk about maybe a little bit of a bifurcation between earlier stage biotech and later stage biotech. I'd just love to get your sense of, you know, what you're hearing at this point from these individual customers or if you're seeing a similar trend in your customer base. Thank you. Stephen GunstreamPresident and CEO at Alpha Teknova00:15:38Yeah, thanks, Mac. In some ways, yes, we're seeing some similarities, right? We had some nice large pharma growth in the quarter. But on the clinical side of our business, we did still see some of these earlier stage, phase I, phase II, place some nice orders with us. A lot of that probably has to do with the work we've been doing with them for some time. In the very early stage, on the research side, in the Lab Essentials, there is a little softness there, but we haven't seen it as much. It could just be some of the accounts that we're supporting today, but we're starting to get more customer engagement from these smaller biotechs. It's, it's looking pretty encouraging right now. Mac EtochAnalyst at Stephens00:16:19Appreciate that. As we think about just your general different end markets that you serve, it sounds like all of them are kind of coming back together as one. Are there any that are leading the pack more so than others? Stephen GunstreamPresident and CEO at Alpha Teknova00:16:36Yeah, like I just mentioned, we had some nice growth in large pharma in the quarter. We did get some nice growth in the diagnostic side as well, in the tools and diagnostics, but particularly on the liquid biopsy, we had some nice orders come in there. We're seeing some growth there. I think, like I said, the biopharma as a whole is a little bit slower, but you're starting to see some growth there. There are certainly pockets where we expect that to increase throughout the year. Mac EtochAnalyst at Stephens00:17:05I appreciate the color. Operator00:17:07Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Brendan Smith with TD Cowen. Your line is open. Brendan SmithAnalyst at TD Cowen00:17:17Great. Thanks for taking the questions, guys. Congrats on the quarter. Maybe actually, excuse me, just following up actually on that previous question a little bit more, and kind of the commentary regarding customers advancing through clinical development. I think you flagged it both within kind of the biopharma and tools and Dx guys. I guess, do you have a sense maybe what kind of proportion, even like broad strokes, what percent of customers are in that, you know, preclinical phase I bucket versus those in phase III or kind of approaching commercial? I guess I'm just kind of wondering how that funnel is looking at this point, excuse me, just especially as the funding environment continues to improve. Thanks. Stephen GunstreamPresident and CEO at Alpha Teknova00:17:53Yeah, Brendan, it's not that different than what we put out in our slides for the 2025 full year. We are supporting approximately 70 therapies. There are five therapies in phase II or phase III that are nearing completion at the moment. 12 in phase I, and then the rest are preclinical. You know, I think we'd expect the number to increase as we go throughout this year. I mean, that's our strategy as you onboard more of these clinical customers. Certainly if the biotech funding comes back, we'd expect that to continue. We've done that really since, you know, since we started targeting these clinical customers back in 2020. Brendan SmithAnalyst at TD Cowen00:18:39Got it. Okay, great. Maybe just kind of a quick follow-up. I think, you know, we've started to see some increases in maybe wet lab spending activity, actually as a result of, it seems like kind of rolling out some of their own AI capabilities internally and kind of needing to validate those models and all the new target sets they're starting to get. It feels like it's still quite early, but I guess, do you have any sense of this materializing in any way kind of within your customers' ordering patterns? Is there any reason maybe why that wouldn't be kind of a notable tailwind for Teknova over the coming quarters? Just kind of any incremental color on how you guys are thinking about that. Thanks. Stephen GunstreamPresident and CEO at Alpha Teknova00:19:15Yeah. I think these AI data generation programs are significant, it's lots of reagents, right? They're generating significant amounts of data. We are supporting many of the customers that are supporting the end users here to generate that data or directly. The standard products we offer in our catalog products, like the LB broth, grow bacteria or the buffers and things to purify proteins, I would expect that to be a tailwind for us. There are customers we're supporting that we are seeing pick up their spend with us for those reasons, it's not yet, you know, a significant material. Brendan SmithAnalyst at TD Cowen00:19:54Got it. All right. Great. Thanks, guys. Operator00:19:57Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Matt Larew with William Blair. Your line is open. Matt LarewAnalyst at William Blair00:20:06Hi, good afternoon. Matt, the, you know, nice upside in the quarter relative to certainly the street, the guide was maintained. You referenced wanting to see more durability there before changing the guide. It does seem like more companies than normal have called out, you know, benefit from more days in the quarter that reverses later in the year. Just curious if there was any, you know, timing impact like that or any orders that got pulled forward into the print or if indeed it's just an effort to be conservative given the broader macro picture. Matt LowellCFO at Alpha Teknova00:20:46Right. Good question, Matt. I would say, I mean, we do have some of this phenomenon where we have, you know, business days impacts, particularly the catalog portion of our business, which again is about 60% of the total business. I would say that was not really a factor for Q1. It will be and usually is for Q4. I would say we saw pretty typical ordering and delivery type of behavior in Q1, I don't think there's anything that's really impacted unusually here. Matt LowellCFO at Alpha Teknova00:21:19As you noted, and I did as well, that, I mean, there is still macro uncertainty and while we're off to a good start here, we're, you know, certainly optimistic, but not ready to suggest that there could be, you know, in to increase our guidance range at this time. It's definitely something that we're, you know, evaluating each quarter here and it's encouraging to have this great start. Matt LarewAnalyst at William Blair00:21:47Okay. You know, you brought up Stephen, 2027, in your remarks to be in position for 20% revenue growth. You know, if I look at sort of TTM revenue at this point, certainly has improved over, you know, sort of one year ago, particularly on the Clinical Solutions side, and Lab Essentials has stabilized at least in the mid-single digits. As you think about kind of where we're at from a TTM perspective today to how you get to 20% in 2027, what elements, you know, do you see improving the most? Certainly, you called out things like larger orders today and improving funnel, you know, where do you think the 20% comes from for next year, relative to today? Thanks. Stephen GunstreamPresident and CEO at Alpha Teknova00:22:39Yeah. I think a couple of things come into play. First is, you know, an improving backdrop, right? We've seen the biotech funding now two quarters ahead of where it's been. We've shown and from past data, and we think it's pretty similar this time, that we will start seeing an impact from about a four-quarter lag, three to four-quarter lag in that. We're expecting to see that towards the end of next year. I think that will drive a portion of that growth. The baseline's kind of picking up a little bit. On the clinical side, you know, we are supporting more customers, and there's more of them moving later into the pipeline, including we'd expect either a diagnostic or therapeutic commercial approval by the end of next year. Stephen GunstreamPresident and CEO at Alpha Teknova00:23:23That, you know, even them moving from phase I to phase II or phase II to phase III or phase III obviously into commercial, you know, those will drive significant growth. That base is relatively small. That actually true on the, on the diagnostic side. You know, there's a couple in there in the leukapheresis side that we may be supporting larger volumes for next year. In addition, you know, this investment we make on the commercial side, both on the marketing and on the people in the field, you know, that will take six months to 12 months to ramp up and that will help us as well. You know, that historical Lab Essentials business has grown 11% on average since 2008. Stephen GunstreamPresident and CEO at Alpha Teknova00:24:07That mid-single digit, I think we start to see that pick up a little bit and then combined with these other things, should get us into that 20%. Matt LarewAnalyst at William Blair00:24:17All right. Thanks, Stephen. Operator00:24:20Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Matt Hewitt with Craig-Hallum Capital Group. Your line is open. Matt HewittAnalyst at Craig-Hallum Capital Group00:24:27Good afternoon, congratulations to the nice start of the year. Regarding the Clinical Solutions, obviously a phenomenal Q1, up 85% year-on-year. I'm just curious if there was anything to call out within that. Was there a larger order that kinda drove some of that? Was it more broad-based? You noted several large orders, was that really it? How should we be thinking about cadence for that bucket over the remainder of the year? Stephen GunstreamPresident and CEO at Alpha Teknova00:24:55Yeah, I'll let Matt touch on the cadence in a minute. Just when you look at the customers we supported in Q1, and we talk about this a lot, about the lumpiness. I think, you know, the question's right. Say, is this just a lumpy quarter, or is this something that is more broad-based? In this case, it is more broad-based. In fact, we had a fairly large customer last year order, and now we came over that. Then, you know, a number of customers here that we delivered for in Q1. I would say it's pretty positive on our side that this one is not just a one-time lumpy piece that we're having for a quarter. I'll let Matt talk a little bit about the cadence for the rest of the year. Matt LowellCFO at Alpha Teknova00:25:30Right. I just echo what Stephen said. I think we're feeling pretty good about the diversity in that part of the business in Q1, and also based on the discussions we're having now for the rest of the year. I think that's an area where we should continue to see, you know, that at these kind of levels or, you know, let's just say in the $2 million range a quarter or better, depending on how things go later in the year. That's definitely going to be an important component of growth this year. All to say that, yeah, I think that part is looking good, and we should continue to see, you know, good results in that part of the business. Matt HewittAnalyst at Craig-Hallum Capital Group00:26:12That's great. Shifting gears a little bit, with some of the investments that you've been making, digitizing, all the paper, some of the investments in, you know, creating larger batch sizes. As I think about your target, you know, 60%-65% gross margins in a few years, how much of that's gonna come from volume leverage versus some of these new strategic decisions that you've been making, you know, the past year to kinda help with the gross margin lift? Matt LowellCFO at Alpha Teknova00:26:46Yeah, that's a good question, Matt. I do believe that the single biggest driver is and will continue to be volume growth. Obviously, we're not just gonna, you know, sit and rest on our laurels and wait for that to play out. There's lots of other things we can be doing and are doing. That's the example you gave there, is a good one. They are meaningful. These are not trivial things. There are sometimes they can play out as productivity benefits where we see that benefit more as we grow than immediately in terms of a cost reduction. It can just mean we have cost restraint as we grow. Matt LowellCFO at Alpha Teknova00:27:24We have that digitization and a lot of other projects always going on, and there's just a never-ending bucket of opportunities to do that. I wouldn't want to. I would still say that the main driver is volume growth. From what we're seeing, that's happening right now. We're excited about it. Matt HewittAnalyst at Craig-Hallum Capital Group00:27:48Got it. All right. Thank you. Operator00:27:52Thank you. Please stand by for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Matthew Parisi with KeyBanc Capital Markets. Your line is open. Matthew ParisiAnalyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets00:28:04Hi. Yes, this is Matthew Parisi on for Paul Knight. Congrats on the quarter, and thanks for the question. You mentioned the onboarding of new sales associates during the call, and I was just wondering how long that ramp period takes. Stephen GunstreamPresident and CEO at Alpha Teknova00:28:17I think, typically, in my experience, you know, this is six to 12 months until you really start to see the impact from that. I think I mentioned in here that probably towards the end of this year, we'll be able to see that. We're starting to see some early indicators with, you know, more meetings, more engagement with some of the target accounts that we're after. It's been great to onboard them, and we're very happy we started in January. I think all is going to plan. Matthew ParisiAnalyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets00:28:46Thank you. That's all for me. Operator00:28:51Ladies and gentlemen, I'm showing no further questions in the queue. That concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.Read moreParticipantsExecutivesJennifer HenrySVP of MarketingMatt LowellCFOStephen GunstreamPresident and CEOAnalystsBrendan SmithAnalyst at TD CowenMac EtochAnalyst at StephensMatt HewittAnalyst at Craig-Hallum Capital GroupMatt LarewAnalyst at William BlairMatthew ParisiAnalyst at KeyBanc Capital MarketsPowered by