Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) raised its 2026 revenue and earnings outlook after reporting second-quarter results that exceeded its expectations, supported by clinical sequencing demand, elevated NovaSeq X placements and higher consumables volume.
Second-quarter revenue totaled $1.16 billion, up 9.5% from a year earlier, Chief Financial Officer Ankur Dhingra said. Revenue grew 6.5% organically, while rest-of-world organic revenue growth, which excludes Greater China, was 8.1%. Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share rose 10% year over year to $1.31.
Clinical Demand Drives Consumables and Instrument Placements
Clinical markets, which represent about 65% of Illumina’s sequencing consumables revenue, remained the company’s principal growth driver. Sequencing consumables revenue was $775 million, up 5% year over year, with high-throughput volume contributing most of the growth as the NovaSeq X installed base expanded.
Sequencing consumables revenue in clinical markets increased 15% excluding China, including growth of more than 20% in the U.S. and Canada. Thaysen said oncology continues to lead clinical adoption, while minimal residual disease, or MRD, is beginning to contribute momentum. Therapy selection remains the larger clinical oncology application by dollars, he said.
Illumina placed more than 95 NovaSeq X instruments during the quarter, as demand remained strong among clinical customers. Dhingra said the company saw several multi-unit capacity expansion orders, including orders associated with the start of new clinical trials. Illumina also placed more than 10 NovaSeq 6000 units, reflecting that some customers intend to continue using that platform for years.
Sequencing instruments revenue was $125 million, up 31% year over year, driven by sales of NovaSeq X and MiSeq i100 instruments. Approximately 83% of sequencing volumes and 59% of sequencing revenue had transitioned to NovaSeq X as of the second quarter. The company expects clinical volumes to reach 80% to 85% conversion to the platform by the end of 2026.
Thaysen said the company expects the recently installed NovaSeq X base to support consumables demand over future quarters, although clinical customers typically require six to nine months to reach normalized consumables pull-through after placements.
Research Market Remains Cautious
Research and applied sequencing consumables revenue declined 7% on a rest-of-world organic basis. Dhingra said the business saw encouraging trends during the quarter, including 9% sequential revenue growth, but the company does not expect a meaningful recovery in research-market revenue during the remainder of 2026.
Management cited continued funding uncertainty among academic and research customers, though it noted increased activity later in the quarter, including more funding releases, requests and quotations in the U.S. Illumina continues to expect mid- to high-single-digit declines in research and applied consumables revenue this year.
The mix of NovaSeq X placements remained approximately 70% clinical and 30% research, according to Dhingra. Thaysen said mid-throughput instruments remain more sensitive to the macroeconomic environment because they tend to serve project-based sequencing needs, while high-throughput and low-throughput systems have remained stronger.
Multi-Omics and BioInsight Efforts Advance
Illumina also highlighted progress in its multi-omics and data initiatives. During the quarter, the company launched StrataMap Spatial, a sequencing-based spatial biology workflow, and said its newly branded SomaScan and SomaSeq proteomics offerings were generating interest following the SomaLogic acquisition.
Microarrays and other revenue rose 21% on a reported basis to $105 million, including SomaLogic revenue. On a rest-of-world organic basis, that category declined 4%.
The company’s BioInsight initiative, which combines sequencing, perturbation tools, computing and artificial intelligence capabilities for biopharmaceutical customers, has begun generating revenue through its Billion Cell Atlas program. Illumina has delivered more than 300 million cells through the program and added three pharmaceutical partners after quarter-end, bringing its total to six.
Thaysen said the program is still in its early stages but is already contributing to both revenue and profit. The company said it expects new products to add one to two percentage points of growth in 2027.
Guidance Raised as Margins Hold Above Expectations
Illumina raised its full-year outlook for rest-of-world organic revenue growth to greater than 5%, from a previous range of 2% to 4%. The company lifted its reported revenue outlook by $50 million at the midpoint to a range of $4.60 billion to $4.64 billion.
- Rest-of-world organic sequencing consumables growth is expected to be in the mid-single digits.
- Clinical consumables growth is expected to be in the mid-teens.
- Research consumables are expected to decline by the mid- to high-single digits.
- Sequencing instruments are expected to grow in the low single digits organically on a rest-of-world basis.
- Non-GAAP operating margin guidance was maintained at 23.4% to 23.6%.
- Non-GAAP diluted EPS guidance increased to $5.30 to $5.40, up $0.12 at the midpoint from the prior outlook.
For the third quarter, Illumina forecast rest-of-world organic revenue growth of approximately 4.5%, reported revenue of $1.14 billion to $1.16 billion, non-GAAP EPS of $1.33 to $1.38 and a non-GAAP operating margin of about 24%.
Dhingra said the expected sequential margin expansion reflects a greater mix of consumables revenue, cost actions and improved efficiency. The company reported a 68.2% non-GAAP gross margin and a 22.5% non-GAAP operating margin in the second quarter, despite higher freight and memory costs.
Illumina said it secured inventory and supply for critical components for the coming quarters, helping reduce near-term exposure to memory-cost volatility. The company generated $201 million in operating cash flow and $162 million in free cash flow during the quarter. It repurchased approximately 0.9 million shares for $122 million and had about $1.8 billion remaining under its current repurchase authorizations.
About Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN)
Illumina, Inc (NASDAQ: ILMN) is a global life sciences company that develops, manufactures and markets integrated systems for the analysis of genetic variation and function. Headquartered in San Diego, California and founded in 1998, Illumina offers a range of sequencing and array-based technologies used by academic researchers, clinical laboratories, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, consumer genomics firms and agricultural researchers to enable discovery, translational research and clinical applications.
The company’s product portfolio includes next-generation sequencing (NGS) platforms and associated consumables, microarrays for genotyping and methylation analysis, library preparation kits and targeted assays.
