Azenta Q3 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
August 5, 2025

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: In Q3, Azenta reported $144 million in revenue (flat yoy) and expanded adjusted EBITDA margin by 260 bps to 12.3% through improved mix and cost discipline.
  • Positive Sentiment: The company reaffirmed its full-year 2025 targets of 3–5% organic revenue growth and 300 bps EBITDA margin expansion, signaling confidence despite macro headwinds.
  • Positive Sentiment: Azenta ended the quarter with $550 million in cash, no debt, and generated $15 million of free cash flow, supporting further investments or share repurchases.
  • Negative Sentiment: Reductions in NIH funding are expected to create approximately a 1% headwind to full-year 2025 revenue, and ongoing tariffs add supply-chain challenges.
  • Neutral Sentiment: Growth in Next-Gen Sequencing, sample storage, and product services offset softness in core capital equipment orders, with the company citing a strong underlying demand funnel.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
Azenta Q3 2025
00:00 / 00:00

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Operator

Greetings, and welcome to the Centa Q3 twenty twenty five Financial Results. During the presentation, all participants will be in a listen only mode. Afterwards, we will conduct a question and answer session. At that time, if you have a question, please press the star followed by one on your telephone. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded Tuesday, 08/05/2025.

Operator

I will now like to turn the conference over to Yvonne Perron, Vice President, FP and A and Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Yvonne Perron
Yvonne Perron
VP - Financial Planning & Analysis and Investor Relations at Azenta

Thank you, operator, and good morning to everyone on the line today. We would like to welcome you to our earnings conference call for the 2025. Our third quarter earnings press release was issued before the open of the market today and is available on our Investor Relations website located at investors.azenta.com in addition to the supplementary PowerPoint slides that will be used during the prepared remarks today. Please note that effective the 2025, the results of B Medical Systems are treated as discontinued operations. I would like to remind everyone that during the course of the call, we will be making a number of forward looking statements within the meaning of the Private Litigation Securities Act of 1995.

Yvonne Perron
Yvonne Perron
VP - Financial Planning & Analysis and Investor Relations at Azenta

There are many factors that may cause actual financial results or other events to differ from those identified in such forward looking statements. I would refer you to the section of our earnings release titled Safe Harbor Statement, the Safe Harbor slide on the aforementioned PowerPoint presentation on our website and our various filings with the SEC, including our annual reports on Form 10 ks and our quarterly reports on Form 10 Q. We make no obligation to update these statements should future financial data or events differ from the forward looking statements presented today. We may refer to a number of non GAAP financial measures, which are used in addition to and in conjunction with results presented in accordance with GAAP. We believe the non GAAP measures provide an additional way of viewing aspects of our operations and performance, but when considered with GAAP financial results and the reconciliation of GAAP measures, they provide an even more complete understanding of the Asenta business.

Yvonne Perron
Yvonne Perron
VP - Financial Planning & Analysis and Investor Relations at Azenta

Non GAAP measures should not be relied upon to the exclusion of the GAAP measures themselves. On the call with me today is our President and Chief Executive Officer, John Murata and our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Laurence Lin. We will open the call with remarks from John, then Laurence will provide a detailed look into our financial results and our outlook for fiscal year twenty twenty five. We will then take your questions at the end of the prepared remarks. And with that, I would like to turn the call over to our CEO, John Murata.

John Marotta
John Marotta
President & CEO at Azenta

Thank you, Yvonne. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. As we continue to navigate an uncertain and dynamic macro environment, one thing remains crystal clear, Azenta's core capabilities make us the partner of choice for our customers now more than ever. Whether it's navigating funding constraints, supply chain complexities, or market uncertainties, our commitment to operational excellence, innovation and customer centricity enables us to remain a trusted ally. In terms of uncertainty, it's our deep expertise and capabilities that sets us apart and ensures we continue to deliver value where it matters most.

John Marotta
John Marotta
President & CEO at Azenta

We are uniquely positioned to help our customers thrive, and we are committed to enabling breakthroughs faster, regardless of the challenges the broader environment may present. On the call today, I'll start by providing an overview of our business progress and our financial performance, and then share some comments on the broader macro environment and relevant considerations before turning the call over to Lawrence for the financial review. Despite the ongoing macro challenges, our focus has not wavered. We remain guided by our North Star of long term value creation and our operational turnaround is moving us in the right direction. The structural realignment of our organization is allowing us to operate more effectively, reduce G and A costs and redeploy critical resources into the operating companies so the decisions can be made closest to the customer.

John Marotta
John Marotta
President & CEO at Azenta

We're also advancing our key growth priorities, which include: one, strengthening commercial excellence by expanding regional capabilities and alignment staffing opening sales territories and investing in feet on the street. Two, funding product management resources to drive innovation and tighter alignment to customers' needs. And three, investing in R and D to bring forward new and transformative solutions to our customers to accelerate growth. The foundation for all that we do is rooted in the Azenta business system. ABS provides the structure and discipline to support and fuel growth through operational excellence and will be a competitive advantage for us.

John Marotta
John Marotta
President & CEO at Azenta

The business system model will harness the full potential of our talented team, unify our culture and drive our performance. We're reshaping the company for long term profitable growth, efficient working capital management, and sustained value creation, all in service of enabling breakthroughs faster. In the fiscal third quarter, we saw clear pockets of strength with growth in next gen sequencing, sample storage and product services. Consistent with the broader life sciences tool space, these areas of our business with the most stable and reoccurring revenue streams performed well. This strong performance was partially offset by core products revenue weakness, as customers were forced to contend with ongoing funding and investment constraints and broader policy and macro uncertainty.

John Marotta
John Marotta
President & CEO at Azenta

Importantly, we have a very robust products funnel. Based on our customers' interactions, we believe that our underlying demand is strong and that the order acceleration is a matter of timing. Against this muted macro backdrop, adjusted EBITDA margin expanded by two sixty basis points year over year, a testament to our execution and cost discipline. We remain committed to our full year 2025 guidance of organic revenue growth between 3% to 5% and adjusted EBITDA margin expansion of 300 basis points. Our geopolitical war room remains, actively assessing and responding to external developments, quantifying potential impacts and working purposely through countermeasures.

John Marotta
John Marotta
President & CEO at Azenta

Customer outreach initiative, which began last quarter, remains a priority. Each week, we receive direct feedback from our team on what they hear from customers and how Azensa can be a better partner. This enables us to react and adjust in real time. Consistent with our prior view, we continue to estimate the reductions in NIH funding levels will result in approximately 1% headwind to the full year 2025 revenue. Countermeasures are in place.

John Marotta
John Marotta
President & CEO at Azenta

We believe that the tariffs have a nominal impact on our adjusted EBITDA. The turbulent and changing tariff landscape is challenging to navigate, and we continue to seek alternative supply chain sources and balanced and reasonable cost sharing options. Thanks to the operational improvements we have made in the business, are pleased we are able to reaffirm our guidance today despite these impacts. More broadly, we are in a strong position to capitalize on the considerable opportunities we anticipate will materialize from this dynamic environment. We believe we are a valuable outsourcing solution that can also help alleviate the cost pressures for our customers, and we are already seeing this play out.

John Marotta
John Marotta
President & CEO at Azenta

For example, we recently negotiated a new MSA with a core lab where our service offering will deliver to the customer both reduce costs and improve service quality. We anticipate seeing more of these opportunities. Elsewhere, we are seeing green shoots in our stores and instruments products given the robustness of our funnel. We remain in a strong financial position with five fifty million dollars in cash on our balance sheet equivalent to $12 per share of cash, no outstanding debt and meaningful free cash flow generation, we will prioritize investment opportunities across key levers, which are gross margin productivity, organic growth offerings, inorganic growth through strategic tuck in M and A, and repurchasing our stock. Our M and A funnel is robust, and we see a healthy pipeline and high quality strategic tuck in opportunities that we believe can help to accelerate revenue growth and profitability.

John Marotta
John Marotta
President & CEO at Azenta

As we previously mentioned, we are planning to host an Investor Day later this calendar community on what we achieved and our outlook for our business. Details of this event will be released in the next couple of months. I'm proud of the work our team does each day to partner with our customers. I remain excited and confident about Azenta's ability to deliver long term sustainable value to our customers, our employees, and our shareholders. With that, I'm pleased to turn the call over to Laurence. Thank you.

Lawrence Lin
Lawrence Lin
Executive VP & CFO at Azenta

Thank you, John, and good morning, everyone. I'll first take you through an overview of our company wide results before providing you with some more color on our segment performance and then wrap up with details on our balance sheet and full year guidance. As a reminder, the results we are referring to today, unless otherwise noted, excludes B Medical Systems, which is reported within discontinued operations. In the third quarter, we recorded an additional noncash loss on assets held for sale of $69,000,000 on B Medical. We believe the transaction remains on track to be announced in calendar twenty twenty five.

Lawrence Lin
Lawrence Lin
Executive VP & CFO at Azenta

To supplement my remarks today, I will refer to the slide deck available on our website. We'll begin on slide three for a few highlights. Third quarter revenue totaled $144,000,000 flat year over year on a reported basis and down 2% on an organic basis. Strength in next generation sequencing, growth in sample storage, and solid contributions from clinical bio source and product services helped offset softness in other areas of the portfolio. Non GAAP EPS for the quarter was $0.19 Adjusted EBITDA margin was 12.3% for the quarter, which represents expansion of approximately two sixty basis points year over year.

Lawrence Lin
Lawrence Lin
Executive VP & CFO at Azenta

This improvement highlights the continued progress of our operational turnaround efforts and the benefit of increased efficiency and cost discipline. While profitability drivers varied across segments, our overall margin expansion demonstrates our ability execute in a challenging environment and reinforces our commitment to building a stronger, more scalable business. Year to date adjusted EBITDA expanded three fifty basis points year over year. Free cash flow was $15,000,000 for the quarter, including B Medical, driven primarily by improved working capital with a significant reduction in accounts receivable. We ended the quarter in a strong position with $550,000,000 in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities.

Lawrence Lin
Lawrence Lin
Executive VP & CFO at Azenta

Now let's turn to slide four to take a deeper look at our results in the quarter. Total revenue of $144,000,000 represented flat growth on a reported basis and a decline of 2% on an organic basis. In the third quarter, non GAAP gross margin was 48.5%, higher 180 basis points year over year. The improvement is largely a result of favorable sales mix, operational efficiencies and improved cost execution. Adjusted EBITDA was $18,000,000 and adjusted EBITDA margin was 12.3%.

Lawrence Lin
Lawrence Lin
Executive VP & CFO at Azenta

Margin expanded both year over year and sequentially. With that, let's turn to Slide five for a review of our segment results, starting with Sample Management Solutions, or SMS. SMS revenue was $78,000,000 for the quarter, down 4% year over year on a reported basis and down 6% on an organic basis, primarily due to softer bookings for Cryo and timing delays in our automated stores product line. This reflects customers pushing out orders as they delay larger capital investments amid ongoing budget constraints and internal realignment. Consumables and instruments was also down year over year, primarily due to a large order that shifted into the fourth quarter and a slowdown in instrument bookings.

Lawrence Lin
Lawrence Lin
Executive VP & CFO at Azenta

The segment was supported by growth in sample storage, along with strong year over year performance in product services and clinical biosource. These product lines continue to demonstrate solid execution and customer engagement and highlight the benefit of diversification in our portfolio. SMS third quarter non GAAP gross margin was 53.6%, up seven sixty basis points year over year, reflecting a favorable shift in product mix and improved operational execution and cost management. Turning next to the Multiomics segment. Multiomics delivered revenue of $66,000,000 up 4% on a reported basis and up 3% on an organic basis.

Lawrence Lin
Lawrence Lin
Executive VP & CFO at Azenta

Growth was led by continued momentum in next generation sequencing, where pricing has stabilized and volume is growing at sustained double digit rates. Performance was further aided by large customer deals, particularly in Europe. Despite macro and geopolitical headwinds, China remains a strong market for us posting 10% organic growth in the quarter. Gene synthesis revenue declined high single digits year over year, reflecting continued softness among key pharma accounts. The decline was primarily driven by delays as some customers adjusted timelines in our reprioritizing projects and internal resource alignment.

Lawrence Lin
Lawrence Lin
Executive VP & CFO at Azenta

Sanger sequencing revenue declined mid teens year over year consistent with trends we've discussed in prior quarters as the industry continues to transition towards newer sequencing technologies. Plasmid EZ, our Oxford nanopore based solution, continues to gain traction with revenue growth remaining strong and well ahead of last year's levels. This momentum is helping to offset the decline in traditional Sanger revenue and we remain on track for PlasmaDZ to substantially balance that impact over the full year. Multiomics non GAAP gross margin for the third quarter was 42.6%, down approximately 500 basis points year over year. The decline was primarily driven by product mix and lower volume in Fangular sequencing and gene synthesis, as well as the impact of certain nonrecurring items in the quarter.

Lawrence Lin
Lawrence Lin
Executive VP & CFO at Azenta

Next, let's turn to slide six for a review of the balance sheet. We ended the quarter with $550,000,000 in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities, excluding B Medical. We had no debt outstanding. Capital expenditures for the quarter were $11,000,000 as we continue to invest for growth and scale in our Sample Management Solutions and Multiomics business. Turning to guidance on slide eight.

Lawrence Lin
Lawrence Lin
Executive VP & CFO at Azenta

As you saw in our press release, we are reaffirming our full year 2025 organic revenue growth guidance of 3% to 5%. Previously, we anticipated low single digit growth in Multiomics and mid single digit growth in SMS. While our overall outlook remains unchanged, we now expect multi omics to grow in the mid single digits and SMS to grow in the low single digits, reflecting evolving customer dynamics and the impact of budget constraints on product purchasing timelines. We are also reaffirming our commitment to 300 basis points of adjusted EBITDA margin expansion year over year. To close, our performance this quarter highlights our differentiated portfolio, improving operational execution and a hard working team unified around long term value creation priorities.

Lawrence Lin
Lawrence Lin
Executive VP & CFO at Azenta

We are committed to delivering on our full year objectives and to advancing the initiatives that will position Azenta for sustainable term growth. This concludes our prepared remarks. And I will now turn the call over to the operator for questions.

Operator

Should you have a question, please press the star followed by the one on your touch tone phone. You will hear a prompt that your hand has been raised. Should you wish to decline from the polling process, please press the star followed by the two. If you are using a speakerphone, please lift the handset before pressing any keys. Your first question comes from David Saxon from Needham. Please go ahead.

David Saxon
Senior Analyst at Needham & Company

Great. Good morning, John and Lawrence. Thanks for taking my questions. So, I'll have one on guidance and then one product related question. So, for guidance, fiscal twenty twenty five guide implies a step up here in the fiscal fourth quarter.

David Saxon
Senior Analyst at Needham & Company

So outside of the easier comp, I guess, what are you seeing across the businesses that give you the confidence in that step up? And then would love your early thoughts on how you're thinking about fiscal twenty twenty six. You started 'twenty five at 3% to 5% and have maintained it throughout the year. So, is that a good way to think about fiscal 'twenty six? Or any puts and takes we should consider particularly around the funding environment? And I'll have one follow-up. Thanks.

Lawrence Lin
Lawrence Lin
Executive VP & CFO at Azenta

Sure. David, hey, it's Lawrence. Good to be with you. Let's start with kind of the fourth quarter. So, as you know, third quarter year to date organic revenue grew at 3% year to year.

Lawrence Lin
Lawrence Lin
Executive VP & CFO at Azenta

To hit the 4% midpoint, there's a step up in the fourth quarter north of $15,000,000 So, we'll need to generate about $160,000,000 in revenue in the quarter. A couple of things that are giving us really the positive momentum we expect, right? There's momentum as you can see in NGS stores. Additionally, as we look at our stores backlog on hand, we have sufficient amount in the fourth quarter. Additionally, as you look at C and I demand, we had some of these orders that I mentioned earlier that were pushed into the fourth quarter.

Lawrence Lin
Lawrence Lin
Executive VP & CFO at Azenta

We've actually seen that shift and that was a significant order. So those are a couple of big items that really move us and give us confidence about the fourth quarter. Additionally, one of the things that we've seen a large amount of momentum is our improving on time delivery around our SMS business. John and the team there has really done a tremendous effort in order to just kind of increase our on time delivery. We'll see the fruits of that labor really kind of flow through in the fourth quarter.

Lawrence Lin
Lawrence Lin
Executive VP & CFO at Azenta

Ultimately, David, it's about execution and really looking at ensuring we can basically get to these numbers week to week and ensuring execution. So that's on the fourth quarter. In terms of kind of the outlook for 2026, really what we mentioned earlier is we're really committed to the IR day numbers that we had in our LRP, which are 5% to 8% CAGR. As I mentioned, at the end of close to end of the calendar 2025, we'll have another Investor Day and update everyone on the numbers.

David Saxon
Senior Analyst at Needham & Company

Okay, great. That's helpful. And then, I guess on SMS specifically core products, talked about weakness there. So how much of that is due to order timing versus order cancellations? Are you seeing any cancellations or just, you know, it's really just orders being pushed out due to, you know, customer resource allocation? Thanks so much.

John Marotta
John Marotta
President & CEO at Azenta

David, good morning. It's John here. We're not seeing any cancellations at this time. Most of this is just a pharma and around capital equipment pausing on some of the capital equipment purchases consistent with the rest of the market.

David Saxon
Senior Analyst at Needham & Company

Okay, thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Your next question comes from Mac Etok from Stephens Inc. Please go ahead.

Hannah Hefley
Senior Research Associate at Stephens Inc.

Hey, good morning. This is Hannah on for Mac. I just had one question on gene synthesis headwinds that you were talking about, some softness from key pharma accounts. What do you think is kind of causing this softness? And do you expect these timing issues to resolve?

Hannah Hefley
Senior Research Associate at Stephens Inc.

Could you just elaborate a little bit more on what you're seeing and when you expect this to improve?

John Marotta
John Marotta
President & CEO at Azenta

Yeah. It Hannah good to be with you. We're seeing just a bit of softness around projects coming in from pharma right now in synthesis. We are seeing some of that going to get on coming on stock here in Q4. We're seeing a little green shoots around that right now.

John Marotta
John Marotta
President & CEO at Azenta

But I think we remain pretty consistent on this. This is just a timing issue in North America.

Hannah Hefley
Senior Research Associate at Stephens Inc.

Okay, great. Thanks. I'll leave it there.

John Marotta
John Marotta
President & CEO at Azenta

Sure. Thank you, Hannah.

Operator

Thank you. Your next question comes from Vijay Kumar from Evercore. Please go ahead.

Vijay Kumar
Senior MD at Evercore ISI

Hi, guys. Thanks for taking my question. Maybe going back to this implied Q4, I think your comment suggests Q4 should be up mid singles, maybe around 5% organic. What was the I guess, can you quantify the order push out in Q3 that gives you visibility on that 5% and how you're thinking about the segments SMS versus more genomics in Q4?

Lawrence Lin
Lawrence Lin
Executive VP & CFO at Azenta

Yeah. Hey, Vijay. It's Lawrence. How are doing? Look, I think one thing I failed to mention is seasonally Q3 to Q4, we always step up.

Lawrence Lin
Lawrence Lin
Executive VP & CFO at Azenta

Last year, you saw about a $7,000,000 step up. The factors I mentioned earlier in the call at the top of the Q and A around NGS momentum stores and then kind of this large order around C and I going out in the fourth quarter really make up the remaining difference. That's why we feel confident about what we've got looking at fourth quarter, but obviously we've got to execute. The other thing I think one of the things to mention, especially around our SMS business and one of the key things is the strength of our funnel. Usually, know we don't really talk about this, we talk about backlog, but what we've seen in our funnel has been tremendous.

Lawrence Lin
Lawrence Lin
Executive VP & CFO at Azenta

For instance, in one of our in our C and I business, we're saying that it is about 2.5 times our revenue. So, to John's point earlier, there's significant pent up demand. We expect a lot of this to kind of peter out through the fourth and then subsequently into the first quarter.

Vijay Kumar
Senior MD at Evercore ISI

Understood. And maybe, John, for you on leadership. You know, when you look at leadership changes you made. Any, any, I guess any, any new leadership, sales leadership, which are perhaps, you know, to maybe the order book cleaning up which, which explains QQ to Q4. I'm curious how leadership changes impacted the business.

John Marotta
John Marotta
President & CEO at Azenta

J. Vijay, good to be with you. Insightful question. We've got a few things going on commercially that we're pretty excited about. We do have new commercial leadership in North America.

John Marotta
John Marotta
President & CEO at Azenta

As you know, we split out the regions and have gone to a regional model instead of a global model commercially. I think we're seeing green shoots around that. Our sales leaders are out in the field with customers. We're pretty excited about that. Personally, I've spent a lot of time with our customers last quarter.

John Marotta
John Marotta
President & CEO at Azenta

We're very excited and we do really well when we're in front of our customers candidly. Secondly, around just sales leadership in general. So, Joe just joined us in North America. But other than that, think we've got our I'm sorry in SRS we've got new sales leadership in SRS. So Albert who was running our corporate sales organization has moved over to SRS.

John Marotta
John Marotta
President & CEO at Azenta

He's well known in the industry and he actually grew up in the SRS business in our biorepository business. So we're really excited about him taking the reins there right now.

Vijay Kumar
Senior MD at Evercore ISI

Understood. Maybe if I could squeeze one more in your comments over an M and A funnel. Seems constructive positive. I'm curious what areas are you looking at, John? Would this be on the product side or service side or anything software layered?

Vijay Kumar
Senior MD at Evercore ISI

Looks like both revenue accretion and margin accretion seem like key criteria for targets.

John Marotta
John Marotta
President & CEO at Azenta

Yeah, the way I would think about our m and a funnel right now is I would think about really us kind of minding our knitting and sticking with our core. And that's specifically around our biorepositories automation and how we think about that. We're of course are evaluating opportunities in the multiomics business as well. But in general, that's the way I would think about it. I would think about it being accretive and us being very disciplined around these assets in terms of making sure that they're within our core or near product line extensions is the way I would think about it.

John Marotta
John Marotta
President & CEO at Azenta

Just back to the basics here in M and A.

Vijay Kumar
Senior MD at Evercore ISI

Understood. Thank you.

John Marotta
John Marotta
President & CEO at Azenta

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Your next question comes from Brendan Smith from TD Cowen. Please go ahead.

Brendan Smith
Director & Senior Analyst at TD Cowen

Areas you would highlight that may see more meaningful strength in terms of spending trends across end markets?

John Marotta
John Marotta
President & CEO at Azenta

I'm sorry. We missed the first part of the question. Apologies.

Brendan Smith
Director & Senior Analyst at TD Cowen

Yeah. No worries. I'm sorry about that. So, I just I just wanted to double click on the funnel that you mentioned earlier in the q and a. How much visibility do you have stretching out over the near term?

Brendan Smith
Director & Senior Analyst at TD Cowen

And are there any areas you would highlight that may seem like they might have more meaningful strength in terms of spend trends across end markets?

John Marotta
John Marotta
President & CEO at Azenta

Yeah, funnel specifically, this goes back to BJ's question and Jacqueline a follow on to this that you're asking specifically around the strength of commercially in our funnel. The teams have done a really good job of reviewing our deals on a weekly basis. We're going very deep into those geographically. Specifically, we've got good visibility in the capital equipment side of the business. Right now, everything that the message is pretty clear, no cancellations on orders.

John Marotta
John Marotta
President & CEO at Azenta

But in terms of the funnel, there's been no competitive pressure. I mean, there's always competitive pressure, but we're not seeing misses or losses in the funnel based off of a competitive dynamic. It's just the timing of these in terms of where pharma is right now on capital expenditures. And that's really the message around the funnel. But I'm very pleased with the team's visibility and command of where the funnel is, where we are in the process of driving those deals to close specifically in the SMS products business.

Brendan Smith
Director & Senior Analyst at TD Cowen

That's very helpful. Thank you. Just to fit one more in, could you remind us on what the ideal buyer profile you're looking for for the B Med divestiture? And I guess we have updates to timing in the near term.

John Marotta
John Marotta
President & CEO at Azenta

Sure. We've been pretty consistent around B Medical. We were surprised at how much demand we had gotten on the process. We're very pleased with where the process is today. Your buyer set is anywhere from private equity to strategics.

John Marotta
John Marotta
President & CEO at Azenta

And again, pretty pleased on where we are. See no reason we shouldn't be hearing about where we are in the coming months.

Brendan Smith
Director & Senior Analyst at TD Cowen

Great, thank you so much.

John Marotta
John Marotta
President & CEO at Azenta

You bet.

Operator

Thank you. Your next question comes from Andrew Cooper from Raymond James. Please go ahead.

Andrew Cooper
Andrew Cooper
VP - Equity Research at Raymond James Financial

Hey everybody, thanks for the question. Maybe just wanna dive in a little bit on the SMS margin dynamics. Can you give a little bit color as to how much of that is really mix oriented with some of the timing dynamics you talked about versus how much is structural costs out that are helping there because you didn't kind of outperform our number pretty materially on that line?

Lawrence Lin
Lawrence Lin
Executive VP & CFO at Azenta

Yeah, Andrew, good to speak with you. For the SMS margin, we are up seven sixty basis points in the quarter. Generally, I would say a large component is going to be mix, right, with favorable mix towards the consumables items. The one thing I would say is, on top of that, we had really good improvements in gross margin, particularly around stores execution and just generally in the overall cost management that was driven by a lot of the restructuring we talked about.

John Marotta
John Marotta
President & CEO at Azenta

Andrew, a couple of things on this. I mean, you're seeing it, you're starting to see the kind of the fruits of ABS, Zenta business system come to life here around productivity and efficiency. That team's done a really good job of bringing in the business system around specifically that gross margin line and getting some pickup there. So we're pleased with that, very pleased with that.

Andrew Cooper
Andrew Cooper
VP - Equity Research at Raymond James Financial

Okay, helpful. And then maybe just in terms of looking at fiscal 4Q and some of the step up here, I mean, what's your visibility today? And can you help us think about the comfort level knowing that, yes, you have the timing dynamic that helps you, you have the backlog, but we've seen this quarter a little bit of that backlog push out. So how comfortable are you with that kind of low single digits and the step up in SMS in particular in 4Q relative to kind of sitting here the August and what you know you have in hand?

Lawrence Lin
Lawrence Lin
Executive VP & CFO at Azenta

Look, Andrew, feel good about kind of where we are, kind of the things we talked about with the seasonal aspect of the step in the third to fourth quarter, coupled with the items we just talked about with kind of the visibility on the stores backlog, what the positive momentum we're seeing in NGS. And ultimately, look, it's about execution and we're meeting with the teams weekly to ensure that we can kind of land the fourth quarter.

Andrew Cooper
Andrew Cooper
VP - Equity Research at Raymond James Financial

Okay. I'll stop there. Thanks for the time.

John Marotta
John Marotta
President & CEO at Azenta

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Your next question comes from Matt Stanton from Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Matthew Stanton
Matthew Stanton
Analyst at Jefferies

Hey, thanks. Maybe on NGS, can you just put a finer point on the high double digit growth you saw in the quarter? What exactly did NGS do in 3Q? I know you said volume was double digits and pricing stable, but maybe a finer point on the trends there in the quarter. And then I think prior you'd noted potential tailwind here from some of the challenges on the AMG side with funding, especially in core labs and indirect funding.

Matthew Stanton
Matthew Stanton
Analyst at Jefferies

Maybe just talk a little bit more on kind of any traction you're seeing there as folks maybe look to outsource or move some of that volume elsewhere and the durability of that tailwind to your business over time? Thanks.

John Marotta
John Marotta
President & CEO at Azenta

Yeah, again, I think the story around NGS is one around sales execution. The teams have done a really good job of partnering with Core Labs in academic and in pharma right now. Both we're very pleased with how that team is executing commercially. It's again, it's a testament to we're starting to see the Azenta business system kind of come to life specifically around targeting customers in driving deals through into the business and just delivering value to our customers. Around A and G, mean there's a bunch of opportunities that we continue to see.

John Marotta
John Marotta
President & CEO at Azenta

Were pretty consistent with our point of view around NIH funding and that being a 1% headwind. We continue to maintain that point of view. As we said, we're on with the team in terms of a weekly war room. We've pushed that out to a different frequency. Now we're getting the team's got a good grip on where we are in terms of funding and how we can meet the needs where there's some pressure on that.

John Marotta
John Marotta
President & CEO at Azenta

We don't we continue to see these outsourced opportunities. And Matt, I think right now there's two dynamics in academic and government. There's a clear point of view around. They're looking for high quality partners at this point in time. In pharma, what we're seeing is less kind of shrinking the amount of partners they would like to have in going to make sure that they're partnering with businesses that are putting on time delivery and quality at the forefront of their needs.

John Marotta
John Marotta
President & CEO at Azenta

And Azent has been at the top of the list. I mean, I've had a lot of personal conversations with a lot of our big pharma customers and that's been that's come over and that made crystal clear to us. So that's really around NGS and ANG there.

Matthew Stanton
Matthew Stanton
Analyst at Jefferies

Thanks. And maybe to go to something you touched on in the opening remarks, you talked about the three areas of growth, I think for both product management and on the R and D side, you noted innovation. Maybe just give us an update on kind of how you're feeling about the innovation pipeline and cadence and then when could we start to potentially see some of these products in area of innovation putting dollars and time into start to show up and contribute to the top line? Is that 26 or is a bit beyond that? Thanks.

John Marotta
John Marotta
President & CEO at Azenta

Yeah. We'll come back to you clearly on when we're going to start to see a lot of that come through the and show through the P and L. But let me speak to the let me give you some specifics in particular around product management and the roadmap and how we're thinking about things in R and D. So R and D you're going to see those investments. You're seeing some of those investments come in now.

John Marotta
John Marotta
President & CEO at Azenta

You're going to see more of those come in next year. We're really pleased at how the team is getting more disciplined around R and D from an NPI perspective, a sustaining perspective in our POC business specifically. Our C and I business we've got a brief new life into that business. We haven't invested in that for quite some time. We're very excited about the investments that were coming in with that.

John Marotta
John Marotta
President & CEO at Azenta

Product management, the teams are working their roadmaps. We've seen some early indications on that. We're really pleased with how product management is looking at the roadmap in terms of voice of customer, what our customers need and want, how we can meet their needs. Again, this is around our innovation engine with Zenta business system. Our team is really our business system team is really supporting those product managers right now in the growth of the business.

John Marotta
John Marotta
President & CEO at Azenta

I'm very excited about where we're going to be able to take things. When we did the review of product management, it was clear to myself and the leadership team that was in the room that have under invested in these businesses for a long time and we're really excited about. Again, going back to what we said from day one here was we've got to put our resources in the right area and it's not in G and A. It needs to be in R and D, product management and sales and marketing. And we're really pleased about what the '26 budget is shaping up to look like to make sure that those investments are there.

John Marotta
John Marotta
President & CEO at Azenta

Again, we want to do what we say we're going to do here and I think you're going to see that read through. Thanks, Matt.

Matthew Stanton
Matthew Stanton
Analyst at Jefferies

If I could just sneak one more in for Lawrence. On the push out in the C and I orders, it sounds like it shipped here in 4Q. Any more color just on what that was? Was it like a couple million dollars or something? Thanks.

Lawrence Lin
Lawrence Lin
Executive VP & CFO at Azenta

Yeah, look, it was a couple million and it just literally shipped in July. So hopefully that help.

Operator

Thank you. Your next question comes from Matthew Parisi from KeyBanc.

Matthew Parisi
Matthew Parisi
Equity Research Associate at KeyBanc Capital Markets

Hi, yes. This is Matthew Parisi on for Paul Knight. I I want to congratulate on the great quarter. I have a question around the NIH funding. You mentioned a 1% headwind.

Matthew Parisi
Matthew Parisi
Equity Research Associate at KeyBanc Capital Markets

And I was just wondering if there's going to be like possibly we could expect less of the headwind due to the update that we've seen that funding is actually going to be going up now in the quarter or for 2026?

John Marotta
John Marotta
President & CEO at Azenta

Yeah, Matt, thanks for the question. Pretty consistent with our point of view. I mean, were that was being pressure tested bluntly last quarter. We had done a lot of homework around this to understand this. And with the recent news of on July 31, it's very positive.

John Marotta
John Marotta
President & CEO at Azenta

That was the Senate appropriations bipartisan 1% step up. Consistent with what we've been hearing in the field, I think you're seeing a lot of grants coming through more around the chronic disease space. We'll see what happens in the house, but we remain pretty bullish on where things are going to be from an NIH perspective next year. Again, our team, team in multi omics and gene was we're able to pivot in pharma or in academic supporting both. I think the team's done a nice job there.

John Marotta
John Marotta
President & CEO at Azenta

Around this indirect on 15%, our business is typically not impacted on that. We think with the direct research dollars going in and the need for more data to come out, is samples. And those samples either get interrogated by our multiomics business or we help support those assets in the SMS business, either way we're well positioned to support that 1% step up.

Matthew Parisi
Matthew Parisi
Equity Research Associate at KeyBanc Capital Markets

All right. Thank you. That's all for me.

John Marotta
John Marotta
President & CEO at Azenta

Okay. Sure.

Operator

Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call over to management for closing remarks. Please go ahead.

John Marotta
John Marotta
President & CEO at Azenta

Very good. Thank you. I want to thank all of our associates and what they do every day to advance the long term and profitable growth of Azenta, how they work each day to enable breakthroughs faster for our customers and our shareholders. Thank you all. We really appreciate it.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

Executives
    • Yvonne Perron
      Yvonne Perron
      VP - Financial Planning & Analysis and Investor Relations
    • John Marotta
      John Marotta
      President & CEO
    • Lawrence Lin
      Lawrence Lin
      Executive VP & CFO
Analysts
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