Seer (SEER) Q2 2026 earnings call transcript

Thank you. Earlier today, SEER released financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2026. If you have not received this news release, or if you would like to be added to the company's distribution list, please send an email to investor at SEER. bio. In addition, during today's conference call, we will be referencing a slide presentation that can be accessed on the events and presentation section of SEER's Investor Relations website.

Participating today from SEER is Omid Farakzad, Chief Executive Officer and Chair of the Board, and David Horn, Chief Financial Officer and President. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that management will make statements during this call that are forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws. These statements involve material risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to materially differ from those anticipated.

Additional information regarding these risks and uncertainties appears in the section titled Forward-Looking Statements in the press release SEER issued today. For a more complete list and description, please see the Risks Factor section of the company's quarterly report in Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, and its other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as required by law, see or disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any financial projections or forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events, or otherwise. This conference call contains time-sensitive information and is accurate only as of the live broadcast today.

With that, I would like to turn the call over to Omid.

Thank you, Marissa, and thank you all for joining us this afternoon. I want to begin by acknowledging the ongoing efforts of the entire SEER team whose daily contributions propel us towards a future where proteomics can deliver a revolutionary impact for patients around the world. I've never been more excited than I am today about the differentiated value proposition of our program technology, the impact we will have, and the market opportunities in front of us.

Now let me walk you through where we stand. In the second quarter, we delivered a total revenue of $3.1 million, a step up from our first quarter revenue and reflecting the ongoing pressures on academic funding. I want to be direct. at this stage does not reflect the value of what we're building. In Nathan Martin's technological advancement precedes commercial inflection. That is exactly where we are. The science and technology at SEER are delivering tangible value to customers and reinforcing our conviction in the opportunity ahead. With $209.5 million on the balance sheet, we have the runway to see this through and enable us to make strategic investments, including opportunistic share repurchases.

The repurchases reflect our continued belief that there is a significant dislocation in our share price. As of June 30, 2026, we have repurchased approximately 13.4 million Class A common shares over the life of our share repurchase program, reducing our net total common share outstanding by approximately 15%. We have approximately 25.1 million available for future share repurchases under our existing authorization.

Turning to slide three to discuss validation of our platform. We now have over 95 publications, preprints, and reviews validating the Perdiogra product suite, an approximately 80% increase in the last 12 months, spanning independent researchers and leading academic medical centers, biobanks, and pharmaceutical companies. In our field, scientific publications are the currency of credibility. Each one moves us closer to becoming the standard for deep unbiosporidomics, and as that recognition builds, we expect it will translate directly into revenue.

Turning to slide four, one publication I'd like to highlight is an independent head-to-head comparison from Roche titled, Nanoparticle Protein Enrichment Competition Heats Up Within Broader Plasma Proteomics Space. And published in the Journal of Proteome Research, the study evaluated SEER against five other plasma proteomics workflows, some of which we believe are trying to enter the field we invented, which I will address shortly. The study moved the discussion beyond protein counts to examine biological origin, robustness, and signal interpretability, and concluded that nanoparticle enrichment delivers substantially deeper plasma proteome coverage than conventional approaches, with proteographs demonstrating an exceptional balance of depth, reproducibility, and resilience to pre-analytical variability.

Importantly, the findings reinforce that the value of proteomics platform is not simply how many proteins it can measure, but how confidently those measurements reflect underlying disease biology under real-world sample variability. That ability to generate more reliable biological insight is central to helping researchers make better biomarker and therapeutic development decisions, and we believe this publication provides meaningful third-party validation of that value proposition.

Now turning to slide five, I'd also like to highlight an independent study published in Nature Genetics titled Nanoparticle Enriched Mass Spectrometry Proteomics in British South Asian Identified Link Between Genetic Variants, Plasma Protein Levels, and Disease Risk. compared our proteograph platform against two affinity-based assays, O-link-HC and SomaLogic 11K, in a study of about 1,400 individuals of British South Asian ancestry. The results are compelling, and they speak directly to what makes the proteograph different. Using machine learning models trained on assay characteristics, the researchers found that only 13.5% of protograph targets were unlikely to achieve cross-platform concordance, speaking to the robustness of our platform, compared to 39% for soma-logic and over 45% for O-link.

The study also found that the protograph measured more than 3,400 proteins that neither O-link nor soma logic could detect and drove the discovery of more than 600 new genetic protein associations. Remarkably, 143 of the newly discovered genetic protein associations were in no sign included in previous O-link and soma scan studies that were up to 30 times larger. And this is a direct quote. In terms of sample numbers, as noted by the authors, that is a real proof point. In this study, the proterograph uniquely delivered depth of coverage, reliability, and unique biomolecular discovery, and that combination is exactly why researchers are turning to us to find novel biology that is not possible with others. In fact the data density that ProterGraph delivers is exactly what AI foundation models need for their algorithms to learn rules recognize patterns and make predictions A typical assay run identified 77 protein measurements per sample seven times more data points and 11 times more average measurements per protein at peptide level resolution when compared to the highest plex targeted assay.

More important than the sheer quantity of data points generated is that these data help us get to the depth of the podium where content remains completely undiscovered today. This is where potential new biomarkers exist that can inform new therapeutic innovation. No other platform can deliver this at scale. We are uniquely positioned to advance AI biological models at this critical stage of the field development and we have concrete plans to go after that opportunity. I want to highlight the milestone that speaks directly to where this company is headed. At ASMS 2026 in June, SEER and Korea University presented preliminary data demonstrating the potential of AI-driven plasma proteomics for multi-cancer screening. Dr. Sang Won Lee and Dr. Jae Woo Kang, professors at Korea University and CEOs of TargetX and iGen Sciences, respectively, presented at our breakfast symposium to a packed room.

The question being asked reflected a scientific community that understands exactly what this data could mean. This work is significant because it illustrates what becomes possible when you combine the right data with the right computational tools. By integrating the proteograph into the plasma proteomics workflow, the team profiled the plasma proteome at remarkable depth and scale across thousands of patient samples.

The data quality unlocks something beyond conventional analysis. Combining deproteomic data that's generated on the proteograph and Orbitrap Astral with an ID-free AI framework, the team can learn directly from a substantially larger portion of the underlying data and uncover biological patterns that traditional workflow cannot access. The early findings from Drs. Li and Kang offer a compelling glimpse into how deproteomics and advanced AI can open entirely new approaches to disease detection.

This is exactly the science the proteograph was designed to enable, and we're just getting started. The market we're building continues to attract new entrants, but we believe the proteograph remains differentiated by depth, standardization, throughput, and reproducibility. Just as importantly, we have built this strong intellectual property portfolio protecting the core innovation underlying our technology. Our portfolio includes more than 250 patents and patent applications, including 84 issued patents covering nanoparticle protein enrichment and automated deproteomics. developments further reinforce the strength of that portfolio. In March, the U. S. KTAP upheld key commercially relevant patent claims challenged by subsidiaries of Rooker. In June, the European Patent Office upheld comparable patent claims following a challenge by an unnamed opponent. And after we, together with Brigham and Women's Hospital, filed a patent infringement complaint against Nanomics, the ITC formally opened an investigation, and taken together, these developments reinforced our confidence in the strength of our foundational intellectual property, and we remained committed to protecting the innovations that underpinned the protograph platform.

While defending our IP is foundational to our vision of building deep unbiased proteomics market, realizing that vision also depends on strong commercial execution, which we believe has sharpened under Tony Bazarco, our chief commercial officer. He has been driving momentum across these customer prospects, and its impact is already visible. Revenue grows sequentially from Q1 to Q2, a positive early development.

What's more important is that Tony has already spent the last two months on the road, meeting with approximately 20% of our North American customers, and also many potential new customers. His interactions with our customers have validated his confidence in our commercial opportunities that lies ahead. Tony has built and scaled commercial organizations inside private equity-backed companies where lean execution, capital discipline, and shareholder value creations are non-negotiable. He has also held leadership commercial and business roles at several larger organizations, most recently at BioMereU. That combination has given him fluency in both the operating rigor of big company commercial infrastructure and the speed and resourcefulness of an entrepreneurial environment. He's bringing this same discipline to Sear. During Tony's short tenure, he has provided a focus that has made commercial engagement more efficient, our customer interactions more targeted, and our resources increasingly concentrated on large accounts that drive meaningful recurrent revenue.

While the full impact of Tony's leadership will take several months to fully materialize and we expect the ramp to build over time, the underlying trajectory and the discipline behind our commercial engine are exactly what we want to see. I'm deeply convinced we have built a product that matters and that Tony will optimize the commercial infrastructure to maximize its value. Now an update on the SEER Insight Program. We received a strong set of project applications to access the Protograph product suite through our Insight Program this year. We're pleased to announce that we have secured an exciting new collaboration with the Mayo clinic in translational research, further validating academic interest in our platform.

We're applying these learnings to sharpen our commercial approach as we continue expanding protograph adoption within the biopharma market. Turning to slide six, moving to an update on our population scale studies, which represents one of the most important long-term value drivers for SEER. Our progress continues to build. For precise SG100K, the team completed running the 10,000 samples from the prospective 100,000 sample cohort in May. The precise team is currently analyzing the data and is scheduled to present preliminary data during the breakfast symposium at HUPO in September. We believe the data coming out of Precise will be the kind of proof point that drives 100,000 plus sample bio-back commitments.

This is the inflection point we have seen unlock sly wheel dynamics for companies building new markets. We're having active conversations with multiple population-scale cohorts across both public and private entities. These partnerships take time to close, but the trajectory is clear. Demand for deep, large-scale, unbiased proteomics is growing, and no platform is positioned to meet it the way proteograph is. I will now turn the call over to David to walk through the financial results for the second quarter.

Thank you, Omid. Turning to slide seven. Total revenue for the second quarter of 2026 was million compared to million in the second quarter of 2025 and to million in the first quarter of 2026 The decrease in revenue was due to lower product and service revenue as a result of continuing macroeconomic headwinds in academic and government funding and continued elongation of sales cycles in some commercial accounts related to extended customer evaluations. We were encouraged by the uptick in revenue from the first quarter as we saw increased consumable pull-through and stack service revenue in the second quarter.

Product revenue for the second quarter of 2026 was $2.3 million and consisted of sales of protograph instruments and consumable kits. Service revenue was $700,000 for the second quarter of 2026. We continue to see steady customer interest in running projects through stack, which we view as an important leading indicator of future instrument placements. In addition, customers continue to appreciate the flexibility of accessing our technology through our SIP program.

Of total instrument shipments in the first half of 2026, one-third were previous stack customers and one-third were part of our SIP program. Other revenue was $100,000 for the second quarter of 2026 and consisted of lease and shipping revenue. Total gross profit was $1.5 million for the second quarter of 2026, representing a gross margin of 49%. compared to 52% in the second quarter of 2025 and a 1,300 basis point improvement sequentially.

The decline in gross margin was due to lower product sales in the second quarter of 2026 versus the second quarter of 2025. We continue to expect variability in our gross margin on a quarter-by-quarter basis as the proportion of instrument, consumable, and service revenue fluctuates. At scale, we continue to believe our long-term gross margins will be in the range of 70% to 75%. percent. Total operating expenses for the second quarter of 2026 were $18.3 million, including $1.5 million of stock-based compensation, compared to $22.6 million, including $3.7 million of stock-based compensation in the second quarter of 2025.

Research and development expenses were $8.2 million in the second quarter of 2026, compared to $12 million in the second quarter of 2025. The decrease in R&D expenses as a result of lower employee compensation expense, including stock-based compensation, laboratory, and professional service expenses.

Selling general and administrative expenses were $10.1 million in the second quarter of 2026 compared to $10.7 million in the second quarter of 2025. The decrease in SG&A expenses is due to lower employee compensation expense, including stock-based compensation, partially offset by higher professional service expenses. We incurred elevated legal and other professional service expenses in the second quarter.

Net loss for the second quarter of 2026 was $16.9 million compared to $19.4 million in the second quarter of 2025.

Pre-cash flow defined as net cash used in operating activities less net purchases of property and equipment for the six months into June 30, 2026 was approximately negative $25.3 million. Our opportunistic share repurchases in the quarter reflect our continued belief that there is a significant dislocation in our share price. In the second quarter, we repurchased approximately 200,000 Class A common shares at an average price of $1.68 per share. As of June 30, 2026, we have repurchased approximately 13.4 million Class A common shares at a VWAP of $1.86 per share, utilizing approximately $24.9 million under our share repurchase program authorization.

As a result, we have reduced our net total common shares outstanding by approximately 15%. We have approximately $25.1 million available for future share repurchases under our existing authorization. We ended the quarter with approximately $209.5 million cash, cash equivalents, and investments. We believe that with our current cash on hand, we have sufficient capital to reach cash flow breakeven.

Turning to slide eight, despite a softer second quarter, we continue to see positive trends in customer interest and discussions that we believe will lead to revenue growth in the second half of 2026. We are reaffirming our full-year 2026 revenue guidance of $16 to $18 million, representing approximately 3% growth at the midpoint over the full year 2025. As a reminder, that guidance reflects our ongoing expectation that the challenging academic and government funding environment would persist through 2026, impacting customer behavior.

Despite the challenging funding backdrop and the impact on the length of our sales cycle, We believe the continued ramp in publications, data from population sales studies, and our new commercial leadership will drive increased instrument utilization and consumable pull-through throughout the second half of the year. At this point, I would like to turn the call back to Amin for closing comments.

Thank you, David. Turning to slide nine. The proteomics revolution is underway, and SEER is at the center of it. This quarter, we defended our foundational IP on two continents, presented pioneering AI-driven cancer screening data to a standing-room-only audience at ASMS, and added commercial leadership to convert years of scientific credibility into revenue traction. We are building a new market from the ground up, and we're winning on the dimensions that matter most at this stage. Scientific validation, the quality of our collaboration, and the IP we defend.

To our shareholders, thank you for your continued support and confidence in SEER. We appreciate the trust you demonstrated at our recent annual meeting with the re-election of all of our director nominees. We will continue to focus on delivering shareholder value for you. And to our employees, thank you for staying focused on our mission over the past few months.

With that, we will now open the call for questions. Operator?

Yeah, Kyle. It's David. Um, you're exactly right. Um, there is a, a kind of a push and pull, if you will. We did, uh, we did ship some, uh, additional ship, uh, SIP instruments, and we also had some conversions in the first half. So some of those SIPs turned into, you know, owned instruments, if you will. So it's kind of an ebb and flow between the two as you move through time.

All right.

Yeah, as we've said, you know, they've become an increasingly small part of our revenue in that they are squarely focused now on their lab-developed test, and so they are doing kind of the discovery work that was driving a lot of the revenue earlier. So not surprising, and we continue to, you know, talk to them about smaller projects, but they're clearly focused on the LDT that they've developed, the ProView on.

Yeah, thank you. I think the presentation that happened at the ASMS by the professors from Korea University is probably a perfect example of how this will work. When you do proteomic studies using deep, unbiased approaches, of which obviously SEER is the one that pioneered it, what you end up with is a significant number of data points on a per-protein basis, and then a large number of proteins get detected at the same time.

So what that means is that you're able to actually interrogate the proteome not just at the level of a protein group, but at the level of a variant of a protein group. And that's relevant. I mean, I think a perfect example of it is the value proposition that Alamar brought to the table where you're looking at a particular variance of tau, and those variants are what drives biology. So now, the reason I think the future of proteome in an unbiased way is actually uniquely positioned well to fit the needs of the AI models is that what's going to drive a lot of that learning is large-scale, adequately powered studies where you're looking at these variants of protein during the spectrum of health to disease.

And I think a lot of that is then going to translate in new biomarkers for diagnostic, new therapeutic targets. And I think that study from ASM is a good example of that. Now, could you drive AI models using targeted approaches? Absolutely. If the goal and the objective is to interrogate a defined set of proteins or protein variants, then you can absolutely do large scale studies using that. But the point that I've always made in terms of where we are in proteomics is that the universe of the proteome is very large. And what we have identified to date is just the tip of the needle.

So you need to identify the content first at scale. And that is what becomes possible using untargeted approaches that SEER offers. and that uniquely fits the large-scale data analysis that AI enables.

All right, great. I'll leave it there. Thanks, guys.

Yeah, thanks, Kyle. Yeah, so we are reaffirming guidance again because we do feel confidence in terms of what we're seeing, in terms of the positive customer conversations and what we see out there in terms of potential for both commercial and biobank folks doing large-scale studies. And, you know, that's several factors. One, we're kind of having the questions both across academic biopharma, biobank, and other research organizations.

And it's not just here, but also globally. And so that's certainly a positive. Certainly, we see that with the presentation of the data, both from the CREA University data at ASMS, And then, you know, we're very excited about the precise data that's coming up that's going to be presented at HUPO in September. And I think that's, you know, these are just, that's a really kind of foundational study that I think will be very positive. And so I think that just helps catalyze folks to understanding the power of the technology. And then finally, as we talked about, you know, we have our new chief commercial officer, Tony Pizarro. And he's really, you know, doing a great job in refocusing the commercial organization on the large opportunities, advancing, you know, conversations with top customers and really driving things.

So we're seeing a lot of good traction from him as well in terms of what he's doing with the commercial organization. So when you put all that together, we do feel like that we feel good about the second half of the year.

Carl, let me hear. I think if you look at the academic and government, you also have to kind of break it down into therapeutic areas. I mean, neurology and neuroscience, 25-26, seen an increase in NIH budget increase of about 7%. You know, the other areas, anywhere between down about half percent and maybe up about, you know, 1.8%. And so if you happen to be in the neural space, then you're a beneficiary of a very directed increase, sequential increase in funding opportunities. That doesn't really apply to the other therapeutic areas.

We continue to see, you know, a significant amount of caution among our customer base that are academic. Now, mind you, we don't have a heavy presence in the neurospace.

But we have customers that have worked on AD and others, but that is not a lion's share of our customer base. So we continue to actually seek out some hesitancy from the academic customers just by virtue of grant funding delays. They may have received a fundable score, but the funds haven't come yet. And that creates a degree of caution that we continue to observe. And I'm not seeing that ending the balance of 2026.

Yeah, Kyle, we did, you know, see an uptick in pull-through from the first quarter, so that was encouraging on the installed base. And we do expect, you know, some of the customers that we, you know, brought online in the back half of last year to really, you know, it's kind of a six to nine month kind of get up and going, run your first project and then start to repeat. So that's certainly something that we've seen and would expect to see in the second half. And it's partially of what's driving our belief that we should see the business pick up.

Thanks, Kyle.