Harvard Bioscience Q2 2026 Earnings Results & Report

Harvard Bioscience EPS Results

• Actual EPS: -$0.14
• Consensus EPS: -$0.21
• Beat/Miss: Beat by +$0.07
• One Year Ago EPS: N/A
• EPS Beat Rate: 3 of last 8 quarters

Harvard Bioscience Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $22.73 million
• Expected Revenue: $21.45 million
• Beat/Miss: Beat by +$1.28 million
• YoY Revenue Growth: N/A

Harvard Bioscience (NASDAQ:HBIO) develops, manufactures and supplies specialized tools and equipment used in biological, medical and pharmaceutical research. Its products support applications including electrophysiology, cell and tissue research, drug discovery, organ and animal physiology, and laboratory data collection.

The company’s portfolio includes laboratory instruments, systems, consumables and software sold under brands such as Harvard Apparatus, DSI, BTX and Hugo Sachs Elektronik. These products include perfusion and organ-bath systems, stimulation and electroporation equipment, physiological monitoring devices, research sensors, and related laboratory supplies.

Founded in 1901, Harvard Bioscience serves academic institutions, government and research laboratories, biotechnology companies, pharmaceutical manufacturers and medical researchers. The company is headquartered in Holliston, Massachusetts, and distributes its products through direct sales and channel partners in North America, Europe, Asia and other international markets.

Harvard Bioscience Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Positive Sentiment: Second-quarter revenue rose 11% year over year to $22.7 million, exceeding guidance, driven by CRO demand, distributor performance, telemetry, electroporation, and other CMT products. Management raised full-year 2026 revenue growth guidance to 3%-5% from 2%-4%.
• Negative Sentiment: Adjusted gross margin declined to 57% in the quarter due to a less favorable mix, including stronger CMT and China sales. The company lowered its full-year adjusted gross margin outlook by one percentage point to 57%-59%.
• Positive Sentiment: Recurring revenue increased to 55% of first-half revenue, supported by consumables, software, and service contracts, while new product innovation revenue contributed 11% versus 3% a year ago. Management is targeting 60% recurring revenue over the long term.
• Positive Sentiment: Project Viking remains on schedule, with two product lines transitioned in the second quarter and two more planned for the third quarter. The manufacturing consolidation is expected to generate $3 million in annual cost savings in 2027 and $4 million thereafter.
• Negative Sentiment: Operating cash flow turned negative at $0.3 million for the first six months, compared with $5.7 million generated in the prior-year period, largely due to inventory builds and higher interest costs. The company ended the quarter with $6.5 million in cash and $33.5 million of net debt.

Presentation

[Operator]

Good day, and welcome to the second quarter 2026 Harvard Bioscience earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in listen only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question, you will need to press star one one on your touchtone telephone. Please note this call is being recorded. I would like to turn the call over to Taylor Krafchik, Senior Vice President at Ellipsis. Please go ahead.

[Taylor Krafchik, SVP at Ellipsis]

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining the Harvard Bioscience second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. Leading the call today will be John Duke, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Mark Frost, Chief Financial Officer. In conjunction with today's recorded call, we have provided a presentation that will be referenced during our remarks that is posted to our investor relations section of our website at investor.harvardbioscience.com. Please note that statements made in today's discussion that are not historical facts, including statements on management's expectations of future events or future financial performance, are forward-looking statements and are made pursuant to the Safe Harbor Provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements reflect the current views of Harvard Bioscience management, and Harvard Bioscience assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied.

[Taylor Krafchik, SVP at Ellipsis]

Please refer to today's press release, the Harvard Bioscience Form 10-Q, and others' filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for additional disclosures on forward-looking statements and the risks, uncertainties, and contingencies associated therewith. During the call, management will also reference certain non-GAAP financial measures which can be useful in evaluating the company's operations related to our financial condition and results. These non-GAAP measures are intended to supplement GAAP financial information and should not be considered a substitute. Reconciliations of GAAP to non-GAAP measures are provided in today's earnings press release. I will now turn the call over to John. John, please go ahead.

[John Duke, President and CEO at Harvard Bioscience]

Thank you, Taylor, and good morning, everyone. Since becoming CEO a year ago, our team has focused on sharpening our strategy, commercial alignment, and operational discipline, from optimizing our sales organization and distribution channels to executing footprint consolidation through Project Viking. That disciplined focus and execution helped us deliver strong second quarter performance, highlighted by double-digit revenue growth across our CMT and preclinical portfolios and solid operational execution that reinforced our confidence in raising our full year revenue outlook. To give a high level summary before Mark dives into the detailed financials, revenue came in strong at $22.7 million, representing 11% year-over-year. This performance was driven by solid demand, particularly from CRO customers and healthy sales across our CMT portfolio.

[John Duke, President and CEO at Harvard Bioscience]

Adjusted gross margin was 57% for the quarter, slightly lower than anticipated due to higher than expected sales from our CMT products and sales in China, both of which carried lower relative gross margin. Adjusted EBITDA came in at $1.7 million, up 11% year-over-year. We are increasingly seeing our execution across our strategic focus translate into tangible operational progress across our customer mix, product portfolio, and recurring revenue profile. Researchers are adopting our products to generate more predictive, human relevant data and address key preclinical translational challenges. We remain focused on our highest growth customer opportunities and continue to strengthen our position with pharmaceutical, biotech, and CRO accounts. We also saw an improvement over the first quarter in our academic segment.

[John Duke, President and CEO at Harvard Bioscience]

Looking at our product mix, we are seeing solid commercial traction and saw double-digit growth within our telemetry and CMT businesses, highlighted by growth in our AAA bioprocessing and electroporation products. Customers continue to show strong engagement across both preclinical and CMT platforms. Increasing high margin recurring revenue remains a key long-term focus. Our recurring revenue strategy is anchored around high margin, single use consumables such as telemetry implants and electroporation reagents, complemented by annual software licenses and service contracts. As our instrument install base expands with platforms like SoHo and BTX, we are generating a steady recurring revenue stream quarter-after-quarter. We saw our recurring revenue increase to 55% of total revenue in the first half as we continue to work towards our long-term target of 60%. Looking at broader industry demand patterns, preclinical drug candidate pipelines are growing, biopharma spending continues to increase, and CRO activity is expanding.

[John Duke, President and CEO at Harvard Bioscience]

Additionally, our distribution agreement with Fisher Scientific continues to deliver strong commercial returns, generating double-digit growth in Q2 while broadening our customer reach. To build on this momentum, our recently appointed SVP of Commercial, Dave Panzarella, is optimizing our commercial teams to focus on our highest growth opportunities, specifically NPI platforms, AAA bioprocessing, and growing our market share within biopharma and CRO accounts. Our Project Viking manufacturing footprint consolidation remains on track. We successfully transitioned two product lines out of our Holliston facility in Q2 and are prepared to move two more in Q3. As a reminder, we expect Project Viking will deliver $3 million in cost savings in 2027 and $4 million annually thereafter. Our Made in China localization initiative is progressing well and contributing to strong regional performance.

[John Duke, President and CEO at Harvard Bioscience]

Following the launch of our localized BTX line, we are actively shipping units and capturing domestic demand. Looking ahead, we continue to expand our BTX product line and are advancing certifications on additional products in the second half of the year, positioning us for growth in 2027. Turning to our outlook. Based on our strong performance in Q2 and expanding commercial momentum within our CMT product portfolio, we are raising our full year revenue growth guidance to 3%-5%. To account for the Q2 top-line performance and the near term mix shift towards our CMT product lines and higher China sales, we are revising our full year adjusted gross margin range by one percentage point to 57%-59%. Longer term, we remain confident that our strategic focus on higher margin NPI platforms and expanding recurring revenue will drive gross margin expansion beyond our 2026 baseline.

[John Duke, President and CEO at Harvard Bioscience]

This trajectory will be further strengthened by structural cost savings from Project Viking beginning in 2027. Lastly, we are reaffirming our full year adjusted EBITDA growth guidance of 6%-10%, supported by continued cost discipline, operational improvements and operating leverage as revenue scales. Over the past year, we have strengthened our balance sheet, put a plan in place to simplify our operational footprint, and sharpened our strategic focus. We are seeing these deliberate actions reflected in meaningful top-line growth, a more differentiated product portfolio, stronger market engagement from our key customer segments, and improving operating performance. We believe Harvard Bioscience is becoming a fundamentally stronger, more profitable company. With that, I will turn the call over to Mark for a deeper review of the financials. Mark?

[Mark Frost, CFO at Harvard Bioscience]

Thank you, John, and good morning, everyone. I will start my comments with our second quarter 2026 financial results, the details of which can be found starting on slide four of the earnings presentation posted to our IR site. Revenue of $22.7 million was up 11% year-over-year, 10% on a constant currency basis and exceeded our guidance range. The growth was driven by increased demand from CRO customers, alongside solid execution through Fisher Scientific and other distributors. Our telemetry business was up double digits within the quarter and solid mid-single digit growth for the half. We saw strong performance across our AAA bioprocessing and electroporation platforms. NPI revenue continued to deliver per our expectation, with an 11% contribution versus 3% of revenue last year.

[Mark Frost, CFO at Harvard Bioscience]

Lastly, on revenue, as John mentioned, we are continuing to focus on expanding our recurring revenue opportunities, which consist of our consumables, service, and software, which improved its contribution by 1% within the half to 55% of revenue. GAAP gross margin was 55.6%, and adding back restructuring for the quarter of 20 basis points brought our gross margin to 55.8%, compared to 56.4% in Q2 last year. The decline was caused by a product and geographic mix shift, with higher than expected CMT sales and strong demand in China, both of which carry relative lower gross margins. Going forward, we continue to focus on driving sales of our higher margin NPI products, but we are not going to downplay sales opportunities. Additionally, we expect to realize significant margin benefit from the completion of our manufacturing consolidation in early 2027.

[Mark Frost, CFO at Harvard Bioscience]

We have provided an adjusted gross margin reconciliation in the release to show the impact of restructuring, which is in the other line. Our point for our investors is we operate our business assuming the impact of depreciation, amortization, and stock compensation costs. OpEx increased by $1.2 million in the quarter. As we mentioned on the last call, we restored salaries and merit, which is the primary reason for higher OpEx, it reflects a normalized cost structure. This investment is offsetting our improvements in gross margin, but we will see higher leverage in our returns in the fourth quarter and in 2027. Operating loss was $1 million, compared to a loss of $0.8 million in quarter two 2025. Adjusted operating income was $1.1 million, 4.9% operating margin, up from $1 million, 5.1% operating margin in quarter two last year.

[Mark Frost, CFO at Harvard Bioscience]

Adjusted EBITDA came in at $1.7 million, 7.3% return, reaching the high end of our outlook range and growing 11% year-over-year from $1.5 million in quarter two 2025. The EBITDA margin remained flat given the normalized OpEx actions, as well as some investment we did in the first half in sales and marketing. Moving to slide five for results by geography. Geographically, quarter two revenue in the Americas were $11.4 million, up 13% year-over-year, driven by strong telemetry growth at CRO customers. The academic funding environment is beginning to improve, and as we discussed last quarter, we expect to see stronger sales to these customers in the second half. In Europe, quarter two revenues were $6.8 million, up 3% year-over-year, 1.5% on a constant currency basis. Declines in academic and government channels were offset by growth across CRO, pharma, and distribution partners.

[Mark Frost, CFO at Harvard Bioscience]

In APAC, quarter two revenues were $4.6 million, up 24% year-over-year, primarily driven by strong sales of our BTX electroporation and respiratory lines. Within APAC, China revenues were $3.1 million, up 29% year-over-year, driven primarily by CRO demand. Our Made in China localization initiative also continues to progress nicely, and we expect a strong regional tailwind as we roll out additional localized product lines throughout the rest of the year. I'll now move to slide six to discuss further financial metrics. GAAP diluted EPS in quarter two was $-0.64 compared to $-0.52 in quarter two 2025. Quarter two adjusted EPS was $-0.14 compared to $-0.05 in quarter two 2025. All per share numbers retroactively reflect the one for 10 reverse stock split completed in March.

[Mark Frost, CFO at Harvard Bioscience]

As I've mentioned in the past, the difference between GAAP EPS and adjusted EPS are typically the impact of stock compensation, amortization, depreciation, as well now our restructuring charges related to Project Viking. These differences between net loss and adjusted EBITDA are highlighted in the reconciliation tables on slide 12 and 13 and are all non-cash items except Project Viking costs. Cash used in operation for the first six months was $0.3 million, compared to cash generated of $5.7 million in year-to-date 2025. This change was primarily driven by inventory builds to improve product lead times and support manufacturing pre-build requirements for Project Viking transitions, as well as higher interest costs from our debt deal. We closed the quarter with $6.5 million in cash and cash equivalents. Net debt stood at $33.5 million, up roughly $5.6 million year-over-year.

[Mark Frost, CFO at Harvard Bioscience]

Total debt was $36.7 million, reduced by $3.3 million in unamortized deferred financing costs associated with our December 2025 debt refinancing, which will be amortized over the life of the facility. Non-cash deferred financing amortization was $0.3 million in quarter one and quarter two, with non-cash exit fee accruals running at $0.2 million per quarter. I'll now move to slide eight to discuss our outlook for the third quarter and full year 2026. In the third quarter, we expect revenue between $21 million and $22.6 million at the midpoint of $21.8 million. This represents mid-single-digit year-over-year revenue growth. Adjusted gross margin is expected to be between 56% and 58%, and adjusted EBITDA is expected to be between $1.5 million and $2.5 million.

[Mark Frost, CFO at Harvard Bioscience]

Now turning to the full year, based on first half top-line strength and ongoing commercial momentum in our NPI telemetry and CMT portfolios, we are updating our full year 2026 guidance. We are raising our full year revenue growth guidance to 3%-5%, up from 2%-4%. To account for higher CMT portfolio volume and strong China demand, we are adjusting our full year adjusted gross margin target by 100 basis points to 57%-59%, from 58%-60%, to reflect product mix dynamics. We are reaffirming our full year adjusted EBITDA growth guidance of 6%-10%. To paint a clearer picture of how we believe this will look in the second half, we expect adjusted EBITDA expansion versus the first half, particularly as we enter the fourth quarter. Fourth quarter historically has been our strongest revenue and EBITDA quarter.

[Mark Frost, CFO at Harvard Bioscience]

We expect this acceleration will be driven primarily by revenue growth in the second half, generating strong flow-through over our fixed cost base, as well as ongoing operational discipline, including modest commercial restructuring actions we executed in July. We are pleased with the progress we have made since this time last year. The improvements we have made to date are the result of structural changes we have made in line with our strategic focus areas, which leaves us confident our results in the first half of this year are setting the stage for sustainable improvement in the business. We want to thank all of our shareholders for their support, and we look forward to updating you on our progress next quarter. With that, I will turn the call back to Michelle, our operator, to take questions. Michelle?

[Operator]

Thank you. As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one one. If your question has been answered and you would like to remove yourself from the queue, please press star one one again. Our first question comes from Paul Knight with KeyBanc Capital Markets. Your line is open.

[Paul Knight, Analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets]

Thanks very much, and congratulations on the quarter. The electroporation business grew what level in the quarter? Also same kind of question on the organoid, Mesh MEA product.

[John Duke, President and CEO at Harvard Bioscience]

Yeah. Thanks, Paul. First in terms of the electroporation, it grew strong double digits and we are seeing the same in our year-to-date strong performance in our organoids or Multi Channel Systems products.

[Paul Knight, Analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets]

With the China demand that we are seeing, could you talk a little bit about it specifically? Is it electroporation products? Is it the Mesh MEA?

[John Duke, President and CEO at Harvard Bioscience]

Yeah.

[Paul Knight, Analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets]

Then-

[John Duke, President and CEO at Harvard Bioscience]

Yeah, happy to-

[Paul Knight, Analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets]

How do you control your China sales? Is it distributors or direct?

[John Duke, President and CEO at Harvard Bioscience]

Now first of all, as a reminder, last year in Q2, there were the retaliatory tariffs, so we had a lower baseline. That being said, we had very strong sales into China, and in terms of the product categories which drove that growth, I will just mention several. Organoids or the Multi Channel Systems, BTX for electroporation, as well as telemetry and respiratory and inhalation. Those were all strong sales in China. In terms of how it is sold, much of our sales in China are sold through distributors.

[Mark Frost, CFO at Harvard Bioscience]

Yeah, that is our largest contribution to revenue is through distributors, as a lot of companies in China.

[Paul Knight, Analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets]

Your Q3 is implying what? Mid-single-digit growth, and what are you implying in forward Q?

[Mark Frost, CFO at Harvard Bioscience]

Yes. Mid-single digits and probably slightly lower in Q4. Obviously, we hope to overachieve. That is why we raised the guidance, Paul. But we obviously had a very strong quarter four last year.

[John Duke, President and CEO at Harvard Bioscience]

The midpoint of the range that we provided is $21.8 million in revenue, which would be a 6% revenue growth over last year.

[Mark Frost, CFO at Harvard Bioscience]

Right. And I think Q4 then would indicate 4%-6% as well.

[Paul Knight, Analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets]

Okay.

[Mark Frost, CFO at Harvard Bioscience]

Okay.

[Paul Knight, Analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets]

Thank you.

[Operator]

Thank you. Our next question comes from Bruce Jackson with StoneX. Your line is open.

[Bruce Jackson, Analyst at StoneX]

Hi, good morning, and thank you for taking my questions. I am sorry if I missed this, but what was the percentage of revenue that was due to the new product innovation products?

[Mark Frost, CFO at Harvard Bioscience]

Yeah, it was similar to quarter one, Bruce. It was 11%, versus 3% last year.

[Bruce Jackson, Analyst at StoneX]

Okay, got it. With the release of the NIH funding in the academic market, that is certainly a relief in terms of the academic sales. Maybe you could comment on the outlook for that market going forward. Have there been any changes in just general budget level or research projects and the types of research projects being done, and how do you feel like you are positioned to go after that market in the future?

[John Duke, President and CEO at Harvard Bioscience]

Yeah. Thanks for the question, Bruce. The academic market in the U.S. is gradually improving. What we have done and continue to do is look at those pockets where funds have been released to actively and aggressively go after that. We put our salespeople as well as you can imagine, our distributors as well, are into those accounts, and we believe we are well-positioned for year-over-year growth there in the second half.

[Bruce Jackson, Analyst at StoneX]

Okay. Then last question from me. With Project Viking, have you found a subtenant for the Holliston lease yet?

[Mark Frost, CFO at Harvard Bioscience]

We have, as I think we mentioned last quarter, have engaged a broker. We are marketing it now. We have had a few folks on site, but we have not got to a point yet where we have a new lease. I will be honest, Bruce, we probably do not expect anything to the fourth quarter or first quarter as far as getting something done, because we will not really move out of the space till first quarter next year.

[Bruce Jackson, Analyst at StoneX]

Okay, great. That is it for me. Congratulations again on the quarter.

[Mark Frost, CFO at Harvard Bioscience]

Thank you, Bruce.

[John Duke, President and CEO at Harvard Bioscience]

Thanks.

[Operator]

Thank you. This concludes our question and answer session. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect. Everyone, have a great day.

Participants

Executives

• John Duke, President and CEO
• Mark Frost, CFO

Analysts

• Taylor Krafchik, SVP at Ellipsis
• Paul Knight, Analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets
• Bruce Jackson, Analyst at StoneX