Cytek (CTKB) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

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DATE

Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, at 4:30 p.m. ET

CALL PARTICIPANTS

• Chief Executive Officer — Wenbin Jiang
• Chief Financial Officer — William McCombe
• Head of Investor Relations — Paul Goodson

TAKEAWAYS

• Quarterly Revenue -- $62.1 million, representing an 8% increase year over year and setting a company record for revenue in one quarter.
• Full-Year Revenue -- $201.5 million in 2025, up 1% year over year; first-half revenue declined nearly 5% while the second half saw a 5% increase over the comparable period in 2024.
• Geographic Performance -- EMEA revenue grew 21% and APAC revenue grew 15% in Q4, both posting double-digit increases; U.S. revenue grew 5% in Q4, driven by double-digit service revenue growth.
• Recurring Revenue -- Accounted for 34% of 2025 total revenue and grew 21% year over year, supported by installed system base expansion and increased customer usage.
• Instrument Installed Base -- Total units reached 3,664 at year-end, driven in Q4 by 208 new global placements.
• Sorter Unit Volume -- Global sorters unit volume grew 22% for 2025 and increased 26% in Q4 over 2024.
• Aurora Product Category -- Combined Aurora system unit sales rose 21% in Q4, helped by the recent launch of Aurora EVO.
• Reagent Revenue -- Reagent sales increased over 20% in Q4 across all regions except the U.S.
• Service Revenue -- Grew 25% in Q4 versus 2024, and 21% in full-year 2025, with Q4 growth supported by installed base expansion and system utilization.
• Digital Platform -- Cytek Cloud user base reached over 24,000 by year-end, growing nearly 50% compared to 2024.
• Gross Profit Margin (GAAP) -- 53% in Q4, down from 59% in 2024, due to higher service costs, increased tariffs, and manufacturing overhead from production transition.
• Operating Expenses -- $38.5 million in Q4, up 25% year over year, primarily because of higher general and administrative costs, partially offset by a reduction in R&D expenses.
• G&A Expenses -- Q4 general and administrative expenses reached $16.4 million, driven by higher legal costs related to patent litigation, increased compensation, software, and bad debt expense.
• Q4 Net Loss -- $44.1 million, including a $38.1 million deferred tax asset valuation allowance; excluding this item, the net loss would have been $6.0 million.
• Adjusted EBITDA -- $4.5 million in Q4, down from $9.9 million (excluding nonrecurring items) in 2024, reflecting higher expenses and lower gross profit.
• Free Cash Flow -- Slightly negative at minus $0.2 million in Q4, ending with $261.5 million in cash and marketable securities.
• Stock Repurchase -- $15.1 million used to repurchase around 3.3 million shares during 2025 at an average price of $4.58, leaving 128.6 million shares outstanding at year-end.
• 2026 Revenue Guidance -- Projected to be $205 million to $212 million, based on constant currency and excluding additional tariff changes.

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RISKS

• GAAP gross profit margin declined to 53% in Q4 from 59% a year ago due to both a lower service gross margin resulting from higher headcount and travel cost, and a lower product gross margin as a result of higher materials and tariff costs and higher manufacturing overhead due to the duplicate cost from transitioning a production facility overseas.
• Net loss for Q4 reached $44.1 million, including the recording of a $38.1 million valuation allowance, or write-off, against deferred tax assets under ASC 740 due to the uncertainty of realizing the associated future tax benefits, signaling material uncertainty around future tax benefit realization.
• Operating expenses rose 25% year over year in Q4 2025, which included a nonrecurring expense reduction, driven by escalating general and administrative costs, including "higher legal expenses related to the patent litigation case," which weighed on overall profitability.
• Full-year adjusted EBITDA declined to $5 million from $22.4 million, as lower gross profit and higher operating expenses reduced cash generation capacity.

SUMMARY

Cytek (NASDAQ:CTKB) management highlighted a return to quarterly revenue growth acceleration, with year-end momentum attributed to rapid expansion in the installed base, strong market penetration by new instruments, and high adoption of digital platforms. Elevated operating and administrative expenses, including exceptional legal costs and a substantial tax asset write-off, produced significant net losses despite positive adjusted EBITDA and growth in recurring revenue. The company outlined a 2026 revenue guidance range of $205 million to $212 million, underpinned by expected continued strength in service and reagent lines, steady or modest instrument sales, and a cautious outlook on market uncertainties. The board demonstrated confidence by executing a significant share repurchase program, reducing shares outstanding and utilizing over $15 million of available cash during the year.

• William McCombe noted, "Currency movements were also a factor, contributing 3% to growth in the quarter," clarifying a tailwind unrelated to operations.
• Revenue from academic and government customers surged 33% globally in Q4, offset by a 6% drop in biopharma revenue following unusually strong results the prior year.
• Q4 product revenue gains in EMEA and APAC were driven by academic and government demand, while declines persisted in pharma/biotech instrument sales.
• The Singapore manufacturing site became revenue-generating within 100 days of build-out, supporting strategic global operations and mitigating tariff impacts.
• Management expects recurring revenue to represent an increasingly larger share of total revenue due to the growing installed instrument base.

INDUSTRY GLOSSARY

• FFC Instrument: A reference to Cytek's full-spectrum flow cytometry systems (e.g., Aurora, Northern Lights), enabling multiplexed cell analysis based on the unique emission spectra of tagged antibodies.
• Recurring Revenue: Revenue streams derived from service contracts, reagent sales, and software subscriptions tied to ongoing instrument usage rather than one-time hardware sales.
• Deferred Tax Asset Valuation Allowance: An accounting provision recognizing the likelihood that certain tax benefits may not be realized, resulting in a noncash charge impacting net income.

Full Conference Call Transcript

Operator: Thank you for standing by. My name is Tina, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Cytek Biosciences, Inc. fourth quarter 2025 earnings call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. To withdraw your question, it is now my pleasure to turn the call over to Paul Goodson, Head of Investor Relations. You may begin.

Paul Goodson: Thank you, Operator. Earlier today, Cytek Biosciences, Inc. released financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended 12/31/2025. If you have not received this news release or you would like to be added to the company's distribution list, please send an email to investors@cytekbio.com. A copy of the news release is also available on the Investor Relations section of the Cytek Biosciences, Inc. website at investors.cytekbio.com. Joining me today from Cytek Biosciences, Inc. are Wenbin Jiang, CEO, and William McCombe, CFO. Please note that we will be referencing a slide presentation during the call today that has been posted to the Investors section of our corporate website.

As a reminder, on Slide 2, we will make statements during the call that are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including statements regarding Cytek Biosciences, Inc.'s business plans, strategies, opportunities, and financial projections. These statements are based on the company's current expectations and inherently involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to materially differ from those anticipated in these statements. Additional information regarding these risks and uncertainties appears in our slide presentation in the section entitled “Forward-Looking Statements,” in the press release Cytek Biosciences, Inc. issued today, and in Cytek Biosciences, Inc.'s filings with the SEC.

This call will also include a discussion of certain financial measures that are not calculated in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. Additional information regarding our use of non-GAAP financial measures, including reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures, may be found in our slide presentation and in today's press release. While the company believes these non-GAAP financial measures provide useful information for investors, the presentation of this information is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the financial information presented in accordance with GAAP. Except as required by law, Cytek Biosciences, Inc. disclaims any duty to update any forward-looking statements whether because of new information, future events, or changes in its expectations.

This conference call contains time-sensitive information and is accurate only as of the live broadcast 02/26/2026. With that, I will turn the call over to Wenbin Jiang.

Wenbin Jiang: Thanks, Paul Goodson. Welcome everyone, and thank you for your interest in Cytek Biosciences, Inc. On today's call, I would like to start with a discussion on our performance in the fourth quarter and the full year 2025 before turning the call over to William McCombe for a detailed look at our financials and our outlook. Turning to Slide 3, we ended 2025 in line with our expectation and delivered accelerating revenue growth quarter over quarter throughout the year, despite challenging industry conditions. Fourth quarter revenue in 2025 reached $62.1 million, representing a year-over-year increase of 8% compared to the same period in 2024, and, notably, the highest revenue historically achieved in a quarter at Cytek Biosciences, Inc.

This growth was driven by a continuation of the trend we saw in the third quarter, namely stabilization and growth in the U.S., a turnaround in the EU, continued strength in APAC, and the solid expansion of our recurring revenue businesses worldwide. Turning to Slide 4, geographically, in the fourth quarter, EMEA and APAC both posted double-digit year-over-year revenue growth increases, with solid gains across instruments, services. Year-over-year fourth quarter revenue growth in EMEA was driven by strong instrument demand from academic and government customers, and continued momentum in service revenue, partially offset by a decline in instrument revenue from biopharma and CRO customers.

For 2025 in the U.S., we saw mid-single-digit year-over-year growth in total revenue, driven by sentiment shifting in the academic and government market. This increase was partially offset by a decline in instrument sales to the biotech, pharma, and CRO market, reflecting the critical fluctuations we see with this sector, particularly after a strong third quarter. Turning to Slide 5, full-year revenue in 2025 was $201.5 million, representing a year-over-year increase of 1% compared to 2024. I want to take a moment to highlight the improvement in our revenue growth during 2025. For the first half of the year, total revenue was down almost 5% year over year due to public policy issues affecting life sciences spending.

Our momentum pivoted in the second half with total revenue up 5% compared to the second half in 2024. This return to growth reflects improving trends and increased customer demand. Importantly, our overall performance in 2025 demonstrates the durability of our business, particularly when compared to the evident decline in cell analysis and large-size instrument demand through the end of the third quarter. We believe our success at delivering revenue growth in 2025 was achieved through the strength of our brand and technology, the diversification of our revenue streams across multiple geographic regions, and a growing contribution from recurring revenue. We believe this trend of growth will continue in 2026.

I would now like to update you on the progress our team has made across our core strategic pillars—Instruments, Applications, Bioinformatics, and Clinicals—to further reinforce Cytek Biosciences, Inc.'s position as a market leader in next-gen cell analysis solutions. Starting with our core instrument, on Slide 6, in the fourth quarter, we expanded our global footprint by 208 instruments, bringing Cytek Biosciences, Inc.'s total installed base to 3,664 units. In 2025, in the challenging market environment, we believe the growth in our FFC instrument revenue reflects the superior performance of Cytek Biosciences, Inc.'s products, our brand recognition, and the underlying strength of our core business.

We are particularly pleased with the growth in our sorters unit volume, which grew 22% in 2025 compared to the prior year and accelerated to 26% growth in the fourth quarter over the prior-year period. We have also been very pleased with the performance of our new Cytek Aurora EVO system. In the short time since its launch last May, it has been tremendously successful, driving 21% unit growth in the combined Aurora category in the fourth quarter versus 2024.

I am also pleased to highlight that the new micro system was recently awarded the 2025 Biotech Breakthrough Award for the “Discovery Solution of the Year.” As we previously noted, the new micro analyzer is an ideal choice for researchers and labs seeking a cost-effective flow cytometry solution and has had a very strong establishment since its introduction last year. These new product offerings reflect our commitment to maintaining our position at the forefront of technology innovation in cell analysis generally and flow cytometry specifically. I would now like to turn to our next core pillar, Applications, which is comprised of our reagent business.

We delivered more than 20% growth in reagents in the fourth quarter in all of our geographic regions except the U.S. Our leading growth continues to be driven by the improvements we put in place in 2025, including best-in-class delivery times, a large catalog of reagents, and new initiatives and strategies on reagent sales. Turning to Slide 7, our recurring revenue continues to strengthen as our installed instrument base expands. For all of 2025, recurring revenue represented 34% of total revenue and notably grew 21% year over year. We expect the recurring revenue proportion of total revenue will continue to grow steadily with increased cumulative instrument placements and to become an increasingly larger share of our business over time.

In bioinformatics, our software ecosystem continues to be a powerful growth driver. The software embedded directly in our instruments combined with capabilities of the Cytek Cloud are highly valued by our customers and are accelerating adoption of our products. Year-end 2025, the number of users on the Cytek Cloud grew to over 24,000, representing growth of roughly 50% in a single year and nearly eight users per installed FFC instrument. Our expanding digital footprint enhances the attractiveness of our offerings overall and helps to drive reagent revenue growth. Before turning to our financial results, I want to highlight the meaningful operational progress we achieved in 2025.

Early in the year, we established a new manufacturing facility in Singapore and optimized our broader global operational footprint. These actions strengthened our leading manufacturing strategy and further reinforced the resilience of our supply chain. I am particularly proud that the Singapore site began generating revenue in less than 100 days from when we started the build-out. Importantly, these initiatives also positioned us to mitigate the impact of the still-evolving tariff policies worldwide. Now I would like to ask you to review our financials.

William McCombe: Thanks, Wenbin Jiang. Before I discuss the quarterly and full-year numbers, I want to comment on the macro trends we saw play out across the quarters of 2025. Beginning in the first quarter, macro uncertainties and weak demand resulted in total revenue declining 8% year on year. In Q2 and Q3, revenue growth stabilized with minus 2% and plus 2% growth, with growth in our service and APAC businesses being offset by declines, particularly in EMEA. Then in Q4, as we had expected, we saw EMEA stabilize while other markets continued to grow, and overall revenue growth increased to 8%.

We believe this turnaround is reflective of more durable trends in our markets, as we have seen these trends continue into 2026, which has informed the full-year 2026 guidance I will share with you in a moment. Turning to Slide 8, fourth quarter revenue was $62.1 million, up 8% year over year. Growth was driven by strong global performance in service and reagents, continued momentum in instrument demand across Asia Pacific, and a rebound in EMEA instrument demand among academic and government customers. Currency movements were also a factor, contributing 3% to growth in the quarter. In the U.S., instrument revenue was flat as strength in academic and government offset softer demand from biotech and pharma.

Globally in the quarter, revenue from academic and government customers grew 33% off a weak prior-year comparison, while biopharma revenue declined 6% against a strong Q4 last year. Product revenue, which is comprised of instruments and reagents, increased 3% versus 2024 driven by double-digit gains in APAC and EMEA, as well as a low-single-digit gain in the U.S. U.S. product revenue continued the stable trend from Q3, attributable to a strong double-digit increase in instrument revenue from academic and government customers compared to a weak fourth quarter in 2024. This was offset by weakness in pharma/biotech instrument sales in Q4 after their strong purchases in 2025.

Our instrument sales in the U.S. were supported by the launch of our new Aurora EVO instrument, as well as pent-up demand from, and stabilized funding of, academic and government customers. In EMEA, the situation was somewhat similar to the U.S. The double-digit percentage increase in EMEA product revenue was primarily driven by outsized gains in revenues from academic and government customers compared to a weak Q4 in 2024. Also similar to the U.S., EMEA revenue from pharma/biotech was weak in Q4 compared to a strong year-ago quarter. While our reagent revenue is still a mid-single-digit percentage of our total revenue, and more than 25% for all of 2025, it grew more than 20% in Q4.

As we have mentioned previously, this strong growth is due to a number of initiatives we implemented at the beginning of 2025, including attaining industry-leading delivery times, offering a large catalog of reagents, creating a new dedicated reagent sales team, and introducing new reagent products. Service continued to deliver strong recurring revenue growth with 25% growth in Q4 versus the prior-year quarter. This was driven by growth in the installed base and active usage of our systems. We expect service to continue to grow based on these factors, although its growth will slow gradually as the number of installed instruments grows, making the denominator larger in that calculation.

Turning to geographic market performance, total U.S. revenue grew 5% in Q4 versus prior year, driven by double-digit service revenue growth. EMEA grew 21% due to strength in service and instrument revenue from academic and government customers. APAC, including China, grew 15% in Q4 driven by growth in instruments, service, and reagents. GAAP gross profit was $32.9 million, a 2% decline versus the $33.7 million in 2024. GAAP gross profit margin was 53% versus 59% in the prior-year quarter.

This was due to both a lower service gross margin resulting from higher headcount and travel cost, and a lower product gross margin as a result of higher materials and tariff costs and higher manufacturing overhead due to the duplicate cost from transitioning a production facility overseas. Adjusted gross profit margin, which excludes stock-based compensation and amortization of acquisition-related intangibles, was 55% in Q4, down from 61% in the prior-year quarter. Total operating expenses were $38.5 million in Q4, up $7.8 million, or 25%, versus Q4 of 2024, which included a nonrecurring expense reduction of $2.6 million related to a change in estimate for a license and royalty settlement liability adjustment. Excluding this expense reduction, the increase was $5.2 million.

This was driven by higher general and administrative and sales and marketing expenses, partially offset by lower R&D. Research and development expenses were $9.0 million, down 8% versus the year-ago quarter, primarily due to lower headcount and compensation expenses and lower engineering expenses. Sales and marketing expenses were $13.1 million, up 11% versus the year-ago quarter due to higher headcount and compensation expenses and higher sales commissions. General and administrative expenses were $16.4 million, up $7.3 million from the year-ago quarter, which included the $2.6 million reduction I mentioned before. Excluding this reduction, the increase would have been $4.7 million, or 40%.

The increase was primarily attributable to legal expenses related to a patent litigation case and higher compensation, software, and bad debt expenses. Loss from operations was $5.6 million for Q4, versus $3.0 million income from operations in the year-ago quarter, which included the $2.6 million nonrecurring expense reduction that I mentioned before. Excluding this amount, income from operations in Q4 2024 would have been $0.3 million. The remaining decline in income from operations of $5.9 million was due to $0.8 million lower gross profit and $5.2 million higher operating expenses. Net loss in Q4 was $44.1 million versus net income of $9.6 million in the prior-year quarter.

The current quarter net loss of $44.1 million included the recording of a $38.1 million valuation allowance, or write-off, against deferred tax assets under ASC 740 due to the uncertainty of realizing the associated future tax benefits. This is solely an accounting determination that does not affect our ability to use these losses for tax purposes, and is a noncash item. Moreover, it is an unusually large amount as these deferred tax assets had been accumulated over multiple years and this was the first time such a valuation allowance had been taken. Excluding this valuation allowance, the net loss would have been $6.0 million.

Net income in Q4 2024 included a nonrecurring benefit of $6.7 million after tax associated with the settlement liability adjustment I mentioned before. Excluding this item, net income would have been $2.9 million. The remaining increase in net loss of $8.9 million was primarily due to $0.8 million lower gross profit, the $5.2 million increase in operating expenses, and a $2.5 million increase in other tax expense principally on foreign earnings. Adjusted EBITDA, which excludes stock-based compensation and foreign exchange impacts, declined to $4.5 million from $12.5 million in the year-ago quarter, which included the $2.6 million nonrecurring benefit I described above. Excluding this amount, adjusted EBITDA in Q4 2024 would have been $9.9 million.

The decline of $5.4 million was primarily due to higher operating expenses of $5.2 million and lower gross profit of $0.8 million. Free cash flow during Q4 2025 was slightly negative at minus $0.2 million, modestly decreasing our total cash and marketable securities to $261.5 million at 12/31/2025, from $261.7 million at the end of the third quarter. Now turning to Slide 9 for the full year 2025, total revenue for the year ended 12/31/2025 was $201.5 million, a 1% increase over the prior year. The increase in total revenue in 2025 was primarily driven by 21% growth in worldwide service revenue and double-digit growth in APAC product revenue, offset by a slowdown in EMEA and U.S. product revenue.

GAAP gross profit was $104.5 million for 2025, a decrease of 6% compared to GAAP gross profit of $111.1 million in the prior year. GAAP gross margin was 52% for 2025 compared to 55% in the prior year. The decline was primarily due to higher service headcount and material costs, higher tariffs, and higher manufacturing overhead costs due to transitioning the production facility overseas as I mentioned before. Adjusted gross margin, which excludes stock-based compensation and acquisition-related intangibles, for 2025 was 55%, down from 59% in the prior year. Operating expenses were $144.8 million for 2025, compared to operating expenses of $131.6 million in the prior year, which included the nonrecurring reduction of $2.6 million I described before.

Excluding this reduction and a nonrecurring ATM offering cost write-off in Q3 2025, the increase would have been $9.9 million, or 7%. This was primarily due to higher G&A costs offset by lower R&D costs. Research and development expenses were $36.5 million, down from $39.4 million, or 7% versus the year-ago period, primarily due to lower headcount and engineering expense. Sales and marketing expenses were $49.4 million, up 1% versus the $49.1 million in the year-ago period. General and administrative expenses were $58.9 million versus the $43.1 million in the year-ago period, which included the $2.6 million reduction I mentioned before. Excluding this reduction and the nonrecurring offering cost write-off, the increase would have been $12.5 million, or 27%.

The increase was primarily attributable to higher legal expenses related to the patent litigation case I mentioned before, higher compensation, sales and use tax, and software expenses. Loss from operations in 2025 was $40.4 million, which included a $0.7 million nonrecurring deferred ATM facility offering costs write-off. This compares to a loss of $20.5 million in 2024, or $23.1 million excluding the $2.6 million nonrecurring expense reduction I described before. Excluding both these nonrecurring items, the loss from operations increased by $16.6 million, which was due to $6.6 million lower gross profit and $9.9 million higher operating expenses. GAAP net loss for the year ended 12/31/2025 was $66.5 million.

This included the recording of a $33.1 million valuation allowance, or write-off, against deferred tax assets as I described before in relation to Q4, due to the uncertainty of realizing the associated future tax benefits. As mentioned before, this was an unusually large amount due to the first-time nature of this allowance. The GAAP net loss also included the $0.7 million nonrecurring offering cost write-off mentioned earlier. Excluding these items, GAAP net loss for 2025 would have been $32.7 million compared to a net loss of $6.0 million, or $12.7 million excluding the $6.7 million nonrecurring benefit from the settlement liability adjustment described before. Excluding these nonrecurring items, GAAP net loss increased by $20.0 million in 2025.

This was due to $6.6 million lower gross profit, $9.9 million higher operating expenses, and $3.3 million higher taxes mainly on foreign earnings. Adjusted EBITDA was $5.0 million in 2025, which excludes the nonrecurring items mentioned earlier, foreign exchange impacts, and stock-based compensation expense. This compared to $22.4 million in 2024. The decline of $17.4 million was primarily due to $6.6 million lower gross profit, $9.9 million higher operating expenses, and $2.3 million lower stock-based compensation. Adjusted EBITDA, excluding investment income, declined from $14.4 million in 2024 to a negative $3.1 million in 2025. Consistent with our historical focus on cost control and profitability, we are committed to improving these metrics going forward.

Cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities totaled $261.5 million as of 12/31/2025. This represents a decrease of $16.4 million from the $277.9 million at December 2024, in part reflecting the repurchase of $15.1 million of Cytek Biosciences, Inc. stock in our stock repurchase program during 2025. This $15.1 million repurchased approximately 3.3 million shares at a weighted average cost of $4.58 per share, leaving us with 128.6 million shares outstanding as of 12/31/2025. Our strong balance sheet and positive cash generation underscore our ability to invest in our global growth initiatives. Turning to our full-year guidance on Slide 10, we are initiating our 2026 revenue outlook at $205 million to $212 million, assuming constant currency exchange rates.

We are also not assuming any significant benefit at this time from changes in the tariff environment going forward. This guidance range reflects the improved market environment in EMEA and the U.S. and continued strong growth in APAC instruments and in our service and reagent businesses globally. We expect these dynamics to continue. Importantly, we continue to believe our performance in Q4 and full-year 2025 reflects a strong market leadership position in what has been a difficult environment. Our core business is now showing positive growth in all major regions, and our recurring revenue continues to grow. Notwithstanding some temporarily elevated operating expenses, we delivered positive adjusted EBITDA for full-year 2025, which we anticipate will continue in 2026.

As we have done previously, we believe we will continue to perform well relative to the overall flow cytometry market, which is also beginning to show signs of stabilization. With that, I will turn it back over to Wenbin Jiang.

Wenbin Jiang: Thanks, William McCombe. Turning to Slide 11, I want to close by thanking our Cytek Biosciences, Inc. team. This year, we were recognized as a public company growth leader in America by Time Magazine. This validation is a testament to Cytek Biosciences, Inc.'s outstanding record of growth and innovation over the last five years. Overall, I believe our fourth quarter and full-year performance during a challenging 2025 reflects the resilience of our organization and the strength of our leadership in the flow cytometry market.

Our broad-based execution positions us well for 2026, where our priorities remain focused on driving the market penetration of our instrument platform, continuing to advance our technological leadership with innovative new products, driving the growth of our recurring revenue line, and delivering profitable, sustainable growth. I want to thank everyone for joining today's call and we will now open it up for questions. Operator?

Operator: As a reminder, to ask a question, simply press 1 on your telephone keypad. Again, that is 1 to ask a question. And from TD Cowen, our first question comes from the line of Brendan Smith. Please go ahead.

Brendan Smith: Great. Thanks for taking the questions, guys. I appreciate all the color. I actually wanted to maybe ask a little bit higher-level question just about some of the underlying assumptions of the growth in the overall flow cytometry market. You gave a lot of good color on different end-market breakdowns, and I think we have seen something like 8% to 9% CAGR maybe up to 2031 or 2032 if I am not mistaken. But I guess irrespective of that exact number, do you have a sense, given your global exposure there, of relative end-market breakdown of that growth?

And I guess, maybe better put, are there geographic considerations for expansion of the market that you think you would be better positioned to capitalize on, especially given your strength in APAC? Just kind of wondering how you are thinking about that overall. Thanks, guys.

William McCombe: Yes, I think—hi, Brendan Smith. This is William McCombe. I think we have seen consistent double-digit growth in the market in APAC, or at least in our revenues in APAC. We may have done a little better than the market, particularly given our growth in sorters and the Aurora franchise. But our sense is that there is a decent mid- to upper-single-digit growth in that market, in that region. We think that Europe has probably been the slowest market—it certainly has been for us—and the U.S. falls somewhere in between. We think we have done better than the market overall in the U.S. and in EMEA. It is hard to really estimate what the market is doing in those regions.

We have seen some negative growth by some of our competitors, but it is hard to extrapolate. Wenbin Jiang, do you have any other comments?

Wenbin Jiang: No. I think that summarizes it well.

William McCombe: And look, I think the market growth rates that we have seen in the last couple of years have certainly been below most of the estimates. Most of the market studies for five-year growth for flow cytometry call for growth rates that are in the high single digits on a global basis, and we obviously have been temporarily below that for the last couple of years. But we expect it to rebound.

Brendan Smith: Got it. Makes sense. Thanks, guys.

Operator: From Piper Sandler, our next question comes from the line of David Westenberg. Please go ahead.

Skye: Hi, this is Skye on for Dave. Thanks for taking the question. Just to start off, was the end-of-year growth acceleration—what was that driven by? Was it primarily academic budget cycles, or are you seeing a recovery in pharma spending? And how should we think about budgets for 2026? Thanks.

William McCombe: We think it was—we saw, as I mentioned in my remarks, an improving environment across each of the quarters of 2025. So the first quarter was not so great with minus 8% revenue growth, and then we saw a stabilization going back to minus 2% in Q2, plus 2% in Q3, and then plus 8% in Q4. And I think in Q4 that was driven by a combination of a normalization in the academic and government spending market. We saw some catch-up disbursements from the NIH, and we think some catch-up spending that had been deferred from earlier in the year. So all those factors were at play. We also had a currency benefit in EMEA.

So when we put all that together, we think that the uncertainties that impacted the markets in the first part of 2025, particularly the first quarter, seem to have receded, and we are seeing an improving, particularly strong, academic and government quarter in the fourth quarter. And we think, as I said, there is a combination there of just a fundamentally improved sentiment and some catch-up. And we are expecting—we are assuming—a continuation of that more positive environment in our guidance.

Wenbin Jiang: Yes. Globally, academic and government sectors have done well in Q4.

William McCombe: Yes. We saw 5% growth in academic and government for the full year and 9% in the second half, and that is across both our product and service businesses. So that second-half growth in academic and government is obviously pretty solid.

Skye: Very helpful. Thank you. And just lastly, what was the mix in 2025 between new customer acquisitions versus existing customers maybe expanding their capacity? And do you have any idea where you might see this mix for 2026? Thanks.

William McCombe: Yes. We do not really break out those, just to say it is a combination of both. We have a lot of customers who have purchased multiple systems and continue to prefer our technology. Pharma companies, as we have indicated in the past, once they make a technology choice, they tend to stick with it. But then we are also seeing conversions from competitor systems.

Operator: From Stephens, our next question comes from the line of Mason Caracao. Please go ahead.

Ben: Hi. Good afternoon. Thanks for taking the questions. This is Ben on for Mason. Are you thinking about maybe your commercial investments in 2026? Are you comfortable with the size of the sales teams today? And is there anywhere you are looking to invest in the next year?

Wenbin Jiang: Yes. Overall, as you can see, we have been focused on the high end of the market segment and represented by the products like Aurora EVO and our cell sorter, which grew double digit last year and then in Q4. On the commercial side, clearly, we are reviewing the segments where we are clearly weak, and we are going to continue to invest in those segments to drive future revenue growth.

William McCombe: Yes. We have also made investments in our reagent sales force as well, so the commercial side will continue to be an area of focus for investment.

Ben: Got it. Thank you. And then what is your willingness to be flexible on pricing this year to help drive instrument placements?

Wenbin Jiang: To Cytek Biosciences, Inc., pricing is always market driven. Our cost structure is very competitive, and we can deal with any situations as needed.

Ben: Got it. Thanks for taking the questions.

Operator: As a reminder, to ask a question—our next question comes from the line of Andrew Cooper with Raymond James. Please go ahead.

Andrew Cooper: Maybe just one—there was a comment, or a couple comments, there about some pent-up demand helping 4Q. Can you just give a sense for the magnitude of what you feel like was sort of make-up volume from maybe earlier in the year or the last few years versus what you view as sort of that steady-state growth trajectory of the business as you think about where it sits today in the current end market?

William McCombe: Yes. That is a hard one to estimate. I think if you look at our total academic and government revenues, which are publicly disclosed, starting with fourth quarter of last year, we were $21 million, then $17 million, $18 million, and then $20 million. So in Q4, we had a significant jump there. As I said, a lot of that is attributable to a better environment.

Andrew Cooper: But—

William McCombe: It is also possible that some of those weaker numbers in early 2025 were, in fact, just deferments of money that got spent later in the year. It is really impossible to sort of parse it out. You would have to do a customer-by-customer survey and dive into what their intentions were, and obviously, we do not do that. Maybe just thinking about the pharma segment—it is much more stable and there we had pretty stable revenue between Q3 and Q4. It was basically the same.

Andrew Cooper: Sure. Helpful. Maybe just thinking about the guide a little bit and trying to put it in context of some of that commentary. You did sort of 5%-ish organic. You talk about the market feeling like it is getting a little bit better, a little bit more stable. And you guided to 2% to 5% growth for the year. So what happens in the end market to make you feel like 2% is the right number as opposed to 5%? And what happens to get you above that if we are already assuming that things are maybe a little bit better through most of 2026 than they were through most of 2025?

William McCombe: Yes. So the way we thought about the guide was: expect continuation of strong growth in service and reagents—in service because our installed base is growing, and in reagents because we are starting from a small base and growing quickly. We expect flat to modest growth in instruments. And then, frankly, we put in some range of contingencies to account for uncertainties, because at this time last year, there were some black swans that emerged, and so we wanted to have a cushion to account for those sorts of things. So that was the thinking that went into the range.

At the high end of the range, obviously, that would represent a smaller level of contingency and better performance in the instrument business.

Andrew Cooper: Okay. I will stop there. Thank you.

Operator: And with no further questions in queue, this does conclude our conference call for today. You may now disconnect.

Wenbin Jiang: Thank you.

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