10x Genomics Q1 Earnings Call Highlights

Key Points

• 10x Genomics said Q1 revenue rose 9% year over year excluding prior-year settlement revenue, with strength in consumables offsetting a decline in instrument sales. Total revenue was $150.8 million, while consumables grew 13% and spatial consumables jumped 31%.
• The company’s main focus was the launch of Atera, a new spatial biology platform management called its most important product introduction ever. Initial shipments are expected in the second half of 2026, and management said early customer interest has been stronger than expected.
• Despite expected near-term pressure from customers waiting for Atera, 10x Genomics kept full-year 2026 revenue guidance at $600 million to $625 million. Management still expects double-digit growth in both single-cell consumables reactions and spatial consumables revenue, and sees AI-driven research and translational studies as long-term growth drivers.

10x Genomics NASDAQ: TXG reported a first-quarter revenue increase excluding prior-year settlement revenue and used its earnings call to emphasize the launch of Atera, a new spatial biology instrument platform that management described as the most significant product introduction in the company’s history.

Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder Serge Saxonov said the company had a “really nice start to the year,” citing sales momentum, product launches and execution. Revenue for the quarter ended March 31, 2026, was $150.8 million, up 9% year over year when excluding non-recurring settlement revenue in the first quarter of 2025.

Chief Financial Officer Adam Taich said the quarter reflected continued growth in consumables, including both single-cell and spatial products, as well as some benefit from orders received late in the fourth quarter of 2025 that shipped in early January.

Consumables Grow, Instrument Revenue Declines

Total consumables revenue rose 13% year over year, according to Taich. Single-cell consumables revenue increased 6%, supported by double-digit growth in reaction volumes. Taich said Flex continued to be the company’s most popular assay by volume during the quarter.

Spatial consumables revenue grew 31%, driven by Xenium consumables. Saxonov said spatial biology remains in “the very early stages of adoption,” with much of the opportunity still untapped.

Instrument revenue declined 24% overall. Chromium instrument revenue fell 12%, while spatial instrument revenue declined 32%. Taich said spatial instrument sales were affected by anticipation of the company’s Atera announcement, with some customers choosing to wait for the new platform rather than add Xenium instruments.

By geography, excluding license and royalty revenue in the prior-year period, Americas revenue increased 9%, EMEA revenue rose 16% and APAC revenue grew 5%.

Atera Launch Dominates Management Commentary

Saxonov said Atera is designed to enable, for the first time, spatial whole transcriptome analysis with single-cell sensitivity at scale. He said the platform addresses historical trade-offs in spatial biology across throughput, specificity, sensitivity, scale and performance.

According to Saxonov, Atera can process up to 800 whole transcriptome, 1-square-centimeter samples per year on a single instrument, or more than 3,000 samples using targeted Atera Select panels. He said the platform uses standard off-the-shelf glass slides, supports archive samples from biobanks and repositories, and includes onboard image processing using GPUs and optimized algorithms.

Management said initial shipments are expected in the second half of 2026, with revenue contribution weighted toward the fourth quarter. Taich said 10x Genomics expects to sell approximately 40 Atera units across the third and fourth quarters, mostly in the fourth quarter, as production ramps.

Saxonov said early customer response has exceeded the company’s expectations, with pre-orders underway. He said conversations have focused on how customers will incorporate Atera into research programs rather than whether they will purchase it. However, he also said the launch is expected to affect ordering patterns for current spatial products, including Xenium and Visium, and that those dynamics are incorporated into the company’s outlook.

Guidance Maintained Despite Expected Spatial Transition

10x Genomics maintained its full-year 2026 revenue outlook of $600 million to $625 million. Excluding upfront revenue related to patent litigation settlements in 2025, that represents 0% to 4% growth over 2025.

Taich said the company still expects double-digit growth in both single-cell consumables reactions and spatial consumables revenue for the full year. He said first-quarter revenue represented a higher proportion of expected annual revenue due partly to late fourth-quarter orders that shipped in January.

The company expects second-quarter revenue to decline sequentially from the first quarter, reflecting lower spatial sales as customers wait for Atera shipments. Taich said during the question-and-answer session that the company is thinking about a low single-digit sequential decline in the second quarter and expects the third quarter to be broadly similar to the second quarter.

Gross margin was 70% in the first quarter, compared with 68% in the prior-year period. Taich attributed the improvement mainly to lower warranty costs and lower inventory write-downs, partially offset by a decrease in license and royalty revenue. He said the company still expects full-year gross margins in the mid-60% range and expects some margin pressure in the fourth quarter as Atera instruments begin shipping.

Operating expenses decreased 15% in the quarter, primarily due to lower outside legal expenses and lower personnel costs. Excluding a one-time gain on settlement in the first quarter of 2025, operating expenses decreased 20%. Taich said the company continues to manage costs with discipline and expects operating expenses to be roughly flat year over year.

10x Genomics ended the quarter with $540 million in cash equivalents and marketable securities, up $113 million from a year earlier and up $16 million sequentially.

AI, Translational Research Cited as Long-Term Drivers

Saxonov repeatedly pointed to artificial intelligence as a structural tailwind for the business, saying AI models require large amounts of high-quality biological data across molecules, cells and tissues. He referenced partnerships and initiatives with the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the Arc Institute, Xaira Therapeutics and Bioptimus.

He said Bioptimus is building STELA, an initiative aiming to profile up to 100,000 patient tissue specimens across three continents, beginning on Xenium and planning to expand to Atera over time. Saxonov also noted the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub’s recently announced $500 million Virtual Biology Initiative, which aims to build AI models that can simulate cells and tissues in silico.

In translational applications, Saxonov said customers are increasingly focused on human-relevant drug targets and biomarkers of therapy response. He said Flex Apex has helped enable large-scale translational single-cell studies, while Xenium has been used for clinical samples. Atera, he said, is expected to extend that work by enabling larger studies with more information per sample.

Saxonov said 10x Genomics is also pursuing clinical evidence generation in two areas previously announced by the company: tissue-based spatial profiling for oncology and blood-based single-cell monitoring in autoimmune disease.

Management Points to 2027 Setup

In closing remarks during the Q&A, Saxonov said he was excited about the company’s setup for 2027 and beyond. He said 2027 would be the first full year for Atera and that Flex Apex should by then have broader adoption, with single-cell pricing stabilizing and volume growth translating into revenue growth.

He also said the company expects increased AI-driven research, scaling of translational cohorts and easier year-over-year comparisons. “To the extent that the conditions improve, we should see an acceleration to all the other trends,” Saxonov said.

About 10x Genomics NASDAQ: TXG

10x Genomics, Inc is a biotechnology company specializing in advanced genomic analysis solutions that enable researchers to explore biology at unprecedented resolution. The company develops and manufactures integrated hardware, consumables and software products for single-cell sequencing and spatial genomics. Its flagship Chromium product line supports applications in single-cell RNA sequencing, immune profiling and genome assembly, while the Visium and Xenium platforms offer spatial transcriptomics and in situ analysis, respectively.

Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Pleasanton, California, 10x Genomics serves a global customer base that includes academic institutions, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, and government research organizations.

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