Illumina revenue reaches $1.13 billion; company raises annual outlook despite share drop
Key Facts
Illumina reported revenue of $1.13 billion for the third quarter on October 29, 2026, up 4.2% year over year, and raised its 2026 fiscal-year revenue and earnings-per-share guidance. The announcement was accompanied by a 12% drop in the stock in extended trading on Thursday, according to Investing.com. Chief Executive Jacob Thaysen said healthy clinical demand and strong NovaSeq X instrument deliveries drove results above the company’s guidance. He added that continued momentum was behind the increase in the annual revenue and earnings outlook. The market reaction came despite the new guidance being broader and higher at some points than the previous range.
The company raised its 2026 revenue outlook to a range of $4.64 billion to $4.66 billion, compared with the previous range of $4.60 billion to $4.64 billion, excluding tariff refunds. It also raised its diluted earnings-per-share guidance, on its non-GAAP measure, to $5.40–$5.45 from $5.30–$5.40. That means the official guidance for each measure was provided as a range, not a single figure. Illumina kept its outlook for organic revenue growth at more than 4% and organic revenue growth outside Greater China at more than 5%, unchanged. By contrast, it raised its non-GAAP operating margin outlook to 23.6%, from a previous range of 23.4%–23.6%.
Reported revenue was $1.13 billion, while the company said revenue excluding tariff refunds was $1.17 billion, up 4.7%. Year over year, reported revenue increased 4.2%, while adjusted growth was 4.7% after excluding the effects of currency, acquisitions and Greater China. Greater China had a negative impact of 0.1% on revenue growth in the quarter. Revenue presented excluding refunds differs from the reported figure, so the two are not the same measure of quarterly results. The company also says its organic growth measure outside Greater China excludes the region’s impact.
Expected tariff refunds included a benefit of $79 million deducted from cost of revenue in the third quarter. They also included $37 million that the company expects to return to customers through revenue reductions. These items help explain the difference between reported revenue and revenue presented excluding refunds. Elsewhere in the results, cash flow from operations rose to $419 million, compared with $284 million in the same quarter a year earlier. This cash improvement adds another indicator of quarterly performance alongside revenue growth and annual guidance.
Revenue in the second quarter of 2026 was $1.16 billion, up 9.5% from the same period in 2025; reported revenue growth therefore slowed to 4.2% in the third quarter. Illumina shares closed at $288.79 on October 28, before the results were announced the following day, so that price does not reflect the market reaction to the announcement. The 12% drop in extended trading came after the results announcement, according to Investing.com. Upcoming events on the investor relations calendar include the UBS Global Healthcare Conference on November 10, 2026. It will be followed by the Jefferies Global Healthcare Conference in London on November 17, 2026.