PacBio (PACB) Closes Omniome Buyout, Forays Into San Diego
Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. PACB, popularly known as PacBio, recently completed its previously announced (Jul 20) acquisition of Omniome. The buyout will enable PacBio to become the only company having both highly accurate long-read and short-read sequencing platforms under its wings.
For investors’ note, San Diego, CA-based Omniome develops a highly differentiated proprietary short-read sequencing platform that is capable of delivering high accuracy.
The latest buyout will aid PacBio to significantly expand its market share for sequencing in innovative ways, thus strengthening its global foothold.
Rationale Behind the Buyout
Following the buyout, Omniome’s platform, Sequencing by Binding or SBB, is expected to boost PacBio’s portfolio as it has fundamental advantages over other technologies and also the capability to deliver higher sensitivity at a lower cost. This is likely to help Omniome tap into new markets.
Per PacBio’s management, the combined teams and technologies are likely to transform the genomics space by offering a differentiated set of products and applications across a wide spectrum of markets, including the high-growth clinical market.
This apart, the buyout of Omniome is expected to pave the way for wider and faster adoption of PacBio’s Single Molecule, Real-Time or SMRT sequencing technology. The company expects to reach more customers with a deeper product offering following the addition of short-read sequencing technology to its long-read portfolio.
The latest acquisition also establishes PacBio’s position in San Diego by adding a new location, thereby expanding its business.
Industry Prospects
Per a report by Allied Market Research, the global DNA-sequencing market was valued at $6,243 million in 2017 and is expected to reach $25,470 million in 2025 at a CAGR of 19%. Factors like surge in sequencing applications and rise in technological advancements are likely to drive the market.
Given the market potential, the completion of the buyout seems to be timed well.
Other Notable Deals
Of late, PacBio has entered into a slew of strategic deals.
In August, the company acquired Maryland-based biotechnology company, Circulomics Inc., to utilize the latter’s Nanobind technology to accelerate its efforts to make sample extraction and library preparation easier for its customers.
PacBio, in July, announced its intent to expand its multi-year collaboration with Invitae Corporation NVTA to develop a production-scale high-throughput HiFi sequencing platform to include the sequencing technology developed by Omniome.
In June, the company partnered with Rady Children’s Institute for Genomic Medicine for research related to whole genome sequencing. The study aims to identify potential disease-causing genetic variants and increase the solve rates of rare diseases.
Price Performance
Shares of the company have skyrocketed 218.6% in the past year compared with the industry’s 19.2% growth and the S&P 500’s 35.5% rise.
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Zacks Rank & Key Picks
Currently, PacBio carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
A couple of better-ranked stocks from the broader medical space are Henry Schein, Inc. HSIC and IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. IDXX.
Henry Schein’s long-term earnings growth rate is estimated at 13.9%. The company presently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
IDEXX’s long-term earnings growth rate is estimated at 19.9%. It currently has a Zacks Rank #2.
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