IDEXX Laboratories - Q4 2025

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Good morning, and welcome to the IDEXX Laboratories' Fourth Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference call. As a reminder, today's conference is being recorded. Participating in the call this morning are Jay Mazelsky, President and Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Emerson, Chief Financial Officer, and John Ravis, Vice President, Investor Relations. IDEXX would like to preface the discussion today with a caution regarding forward-looking statements. Listeners are reminded that our discussion during the call will include forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed today.

Additional information regarding these risks and uncertainties is available under the forward-looking statements notice in our press release issued this morning, as well as in our periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which can be obtained from the SEC or by visiting the investor relations section of our website, idexx.com.

During this call, we will be discussing certain financial measures not prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles or GAAP. A reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures is provided in our earnings release, which may also be found by visiting the investor relations section of our website. In reviewing our fourth quarter 2025 results and 2026 financial outlook, please note all references to growth, organic growth, and comparable growth refer to growth compared to the equivalent prior year period, unless otherwise noted. To allow broad participation in the Q&A, we ask that each participant limit their questions to one, with one follow-up as necessary. We appreciate you may have additional questions, so please feel free to get back into the queue, and if time permits, we'll take your additional questions.

Today's prepared remarks will be posted to the investor relations section of our website after the earnings conference call concludes. I would now like to turn the call over to Andrew Emerson.

Andrew Emerson (EVP and CFO)

Good morning, and welcome to our fourth quarter earnings call. Today, I'm pleased to review our Q4 and full-year 2025 financial results and the company's outlook for 2026. In terms of highlights for 2025, IDEXX delivered excellent financial performance in Q4, driven by double-digit top-line gains. Revenue increased 14% as reported and 12% organically, supported by 10% organic growth in CAG Diagnostics' recurring revenues. We achieved record premium instrument placements in Q4, with strong gains across our major platforms, including over 1,900 IDEXX inVue Dx placements, supporting a 69% organic year-over-year expansion of our CAG Diagnostics instrument revenues. Strong revenue growth delivered $3.08 in EPS, up 17% on a comparable basis, while advancing planned investments in our commercial and innovation capabilities.

IDEXX execution drove solid full-year revenue expansion, with benefits from organic revenue growth supporting strong financial performance aligned with our long-term potential. IDEXX achieved 10% overall organic revenue growth for the full year, driven by 8% organic growth in CAG Diagnostics' recurring revenues. Our global premium instrument install base expanded 12% year-over-year, including benefits from nearly 6,400 inVue Dx instruments. Full-year operating margins reached 31.6%, an increase of 90 basis points on a comparable basis, supported by solid revenue expansion and productivity gains. Full-year EPS of $13.08 per share was up 14% year-over-year on a comparable basis from strong operational performance. These results were achieved through successful advancement of our innovation-driven growth strategy, including new platform launches, creating a solid foundation to build upon as we enter 2026.

We'll discuss our 2026 financial expectations later in my comments. Let's begin with a review of our 2025 results. Fourth quarter organic revenue growth of 12% reflected solid gains across IDEXX's major business segments, including 13% organic growth in CAG, 10% organic growth in water, and 4% organic gains in LPD. Worldwide, CAG Diagnostics' recurring revenue increased 10% organically in the fourth quarter, including solid benefits from volume growth and average global net price improvement of 4%. US CAG Diagnostics' recurring revenues increased 9% organically in Q4, including approximately 4% net price improvement and approximately 5% volume growth. Volume benefited from sustained new business gains, aided by high customer retention levels and expanded utilization, including benefits from IDEXX innovations.

In the fourth quarter, IDEXX achieved a revenue growth premium compared to U.S. clinical visit growth levels of approximately 1,100 basis points. Pressure on clinical visits remains a headwind to the sector, with U.S. same-store clinical visit declines of approximately 1.7% in Q4 and 1.9% for the full year 2025. Wellness and discretionary visits remain more pressured than sick patient visits, with wellness visits down 3.6% in Q4, while early signs of an aging pet population and benefits from IDEXX innovations contributed to diagnostic frequency and volume utilization gains per clinical visit. International organic CAG Diagnostics recurring revenue growth was 12% in Q4, with gains from net price realization and solid volume growth enabled by new business expansion, reflected in our double-digit year-over-year growth of our international premium instrument install base.

International regions have maintained strong growth throughout the year, highlighting the significant global opportunity and strong demand for diagnostic solutions. IDEXX VetLab consumable revenues increased 15% organically in the quarter, reflecting strong double-digit gains in the U.S. and international regions. Consumable gains benefited from 12% increase of our global premium instrument install base, reflecting solid advancement across our Catalyst, Premium Hematology, SediVue, and inVue Dx platforms. In the fourth quarter, we placed 6,567 premium instruments, up 42% from the prior year. Quarterly placement results included strong gains in inVue Dx and SediVue, while sustaining Catalyst placement levels worldwide. For the full year 2025, we achieved approximately 22,500 premium instrument placements with excellent quality, reflected in significantly expanded EVI metrics, bolstered by new and competitive Catalyst placements, and nearly 6,400 inVue Dx instruments.

The successful launch of inVue Dx contributed over $75 million in instrument revenue for the full year, supporting approximately 200 basis points of overall company growth. Rapid Assay revenues declined 3% on an organic basis in Q4. Rapid Assay results were constrained by pressure on U.S. wellness visits and continued transition of pancreatic lipase to our Catalyst slide, which had an estimated 4% headwind to Q4 revenue growth. Global Reference Lab revenues expanded 9% organically in Q4. Reference Lab results in the quarter were supported by solid volume growth across regions and net price improvement. Volume expansion included new customer growth, along with continued traction of innovations like IDEXX Cancer Dx in North America, reaching nearly 6,000 customers.

CAG Veterinary Software, Services, and Diagnostic Imaging revenues increased 13% organically in Q4, with results supported by 12% recurring revenues, with momentum from our vertical SaaS strategy, including double-digit growth in our cloud-based PIMS recurring revenue. In other business segments, water revenues increased 10% organically in Q4, with double-digit international revenue growth and solid gains in the US Livestock, Poultry, and Dairy revenues increased 4% organically in Q4, supported by solid gains in the Americas. Turning to the P&L, Q4 operating profits increased 21% as reported, and 17% on a comparable basis from the prior year, including gross margin gains and modest operational expense leverage. Gross profit increased 15% as reported, and 13% on a comparable basis, achieving 60.3% in Q4.

This is an improvement of 60 basis points comparably, adjusting for approximately 10 basis points of negative foreign exchange impact. Gross margin gains were aided by strong consumable growth and benefits from higher reference lab gross margins, offsetting headwinds from business mix on strong instrument revenue levels. Operating expenses were up 11% as reported, and 10% year over year on a comparable basis in the quarter, reflecting increases in R&D and commercial investments aligned with advancing our innovation roadmap, including recently announced expansions of inVue Dx and Cancer Dx platform capabilities, and the completion of our global commercial expansions. For the full year 2025, operating margins were 31.6%, an increase of 90 basis points on a comparable basis, net of approximately a 180 basis point benefit related to lapping and now concluded litigation expense.

On a full-year basis, there was immaterial margin impact from foreign exchange effects. Q4 EPS was $3.08 per share, up 17% year-over-year on a comparable basis. In Q4, EPS benefited from strong operational results and lower effective tax rate, including 7 cents per share in tax benefit from share-based compensation. Foreign exchange provided a 9-cent per-share tailwind to the quarter, net of hedge effects. Full-year earnings per share was $13.08, an increase of 14% on a comparable basis. EPS results were driven by strong operational performance in the year and include a combined 64-cent benefit from an accrual adjustment during 2024 and 2025, related to a now concluded litigation, a 10-cent positive impact from currency changes, and 35 cents in tax benefits from share-based compensation activity.

Foreign exchange had an 80 basis points full-year revenue growth benefit and increased operating profits by $10 million, and EPS by $0.10 per share, net of $1 million in hedge losses. Full-year free cash flow was $1.1 billion for 2025, or 100% of net income, aligned with our third quarter guidance and ahead of our long-term goals with capital spending of $125 million, or approximately 3% of revenue. We allocated $1.2 billion to repurchase 2.4 million shares at an average cost per share of $506, supporting a 2.7% year-over-year reduction in diluted shares outstanding.

Our balance sheet remains in a strong position, and we ended 2025 with modestly lower leverage ratios of 0.5 times gross and 0.4 times net of cash. Turning to our full-year 2026 financial outlook, IDEXX is planning to deliver solid organic revenue growth and profit gains, building on strong commercial execution and extensible new platforms. We're providing initial guidance for revenue of $4.632 billion-$4.72 billion, an increase of 7.6%-9.6% on a reported basis, reflecting 7%-9% organically. CAG Diagnostics recurring revenues are expected to grow 8%-10% organically for the year, representing an increase of approximately 100 basis points at midpoint compared to our 2025 results.

At current exchange rates, we expect foreign exchange to have an approximate 60 basis points benefit to full-year revenue growth, largely in the first half of the year. At midpoint, our 2026 organic CAG Diagnostics recurring revenue growth outlook incorporates expectations for global net price realization of approximately 4%, reflecting a modestly lower net price realization than 2025. In the U.S., we anticipate net price improvement of approximately 3.5% and have incorporated declines in U.S. same-store clinical visit growth of approximately 2%, similar to the full-year 2025, given ongoing macro and sector constraints. These targets incorporate continued solid global growth benefits from IDEXX execution and innovation drivers, including new customer gains and increases in testing utilization.

The higher end of our CAG Diagnostics recurring revenue growth outlook captures the potential for improved sector and same-store growth trends, while the lower end of the range calibrates for further potential effects on macro and sector pressures. We're planning for solid placement levels for full year 2026 across our premium instrument install base categories, including 5,500 inVue Dx instruments. We expect declines in CAG instrument revenues in 2026 as we lap the rapid expansion of IDEXX inVue Dx instrument placements and anticipate regional revenue mix dynamics. Our 2026 reported operating margin outlook for the full year is 32.0%-32.5%.

On a comparable basis, this reflects an outlook for 30-80 basis points of improvement year-over-year, net of approximately 30 basis point benefit foreign exchange, and an approximately 20 basis point headwind from lapping a prior year, now concluded litigation accrual adjustment in 2025. We're planning for solid gross margin gains on a comparable basis, supported by growth in CAG Diagnostics, recurring revenues, benefits from lab and operational productivity initiatives, and expansion of our high-margin cloud-based software business. We've captured impacts of tariffs under current laws in our outlook, and we remain well positioned to maintain supply continuity to our customers. Our 2026 EPS outlook is $14.29-$14.80 per share.

This reflects an increase of 10%-14% on a comparable basis, net of a 1% reported growth headwind from comparison to the prior year, now concluded litigation accrual adjustment. Our EPS outlook includes $34 million of net interest expense at prevailing rates, and foreign exchange benefit of approximately $0.22 year over year at rates disclosed in our earnings release, net of established hedge positions. We're planning for a consistent year-to-year tax rate when excluding share-based compensation effects. In terms of sensitivities to changes in foreign exchange rates, we project a 1% change in the value of the US dollar would impact full-year reported revenue by approximately $16 million and operating income by approximately $5 million, net of hedge effects.

Our 2026 free cash flow outlook is for net income to free cash flow conversion ratio of 85%-95%, aligned with the long-term potential and reflects capital spending of $180 million, or approximately 4% of revenues. The outlook incorporates capital deployment towards share repurchases to support a 1%-2% year-over-year reduction in diluted shares outstanding, while maintaining leverage ratios similar to the past couple of years. Regarding our Q1 outlook, we're planning for overall reported revenue growth of 11.5%-13.5%, including approximately 2.5% growth benefit from foreign exchange at rates outlined in our press release.

Organic revenue growth of 9%-11% includes approximately 1%-1.5% growth benefit from CAG instrument revenues, supported by ongoing momentum in inVue Dx analyzer placements. As noted, growth from capital revenues is projected to become a headwind to overall growth over the balance of the year as we lap the launch of inVue Dx. We expect Q1 CAG diagnostic recurring revenue growth of 8.5%-10.5%, which includes approximately 50 basis points benefit from equivalent days at midpoint and U.S. clinical visit trends and pricing expectations aligned with the full year guidance levels.

Our Q1 reported operating margins are planned for 31.4%-31.9%, reflecting solid expansion of comparable margins in the quarter, aligned with our full-year expectations, net of approximately 90 basis points headwind from lapping a discrete litigation accrual adjustment in the prior year quarter and approximately 30 basis points benefit from year-over-year foreign exchange impacts. We're well positioned entering 2026 with an expanded global field team and innovative platforms aimed at solving customer challenges. This concludes our guidance update, and I'll now turn the call over to Jay for his comments.

Jay Mazelsky (President and CEO)

Thank you, Andrew, and good morning. IDEXX delivered a very strong fourth quarter, closing a year marked by exceptional execution across the organization and meaningful strategic progress towards our long-term potential. In many respects, 2025 was a defining year for our company. We successfully scaled multiple transformative innovations, expanded our commercial presence in key international regions, and continued to demonstrate the resilience and durability of the IDEXX business model, pressured by broader economic uncertainty. Our performance reflects the strength of that model, one built on customer-centric innovation, high quality, durable, recurring revenue, and solutions deeply embedded in the daily workflows of veterinary practices. This year, through significant innovations like inVue Dx, Cancer Dx, Vello, and Catalyst Cortisol, our solutions provided valuable insights and the productivity lift sought by our customers.

The human-animal bond continues to deepen, and pet owners remain committed to providing a high standard of care, even amid what, for many of them, may be challenging household economics. This commitment is especially evident in the aging pet population, where owners and veterinarians alike are prioritizing early detection, proactive screening, and longitudinal monitoring. Early signs of aging pets with solid visit growth for canines 5-plus years old, more weighted to non-well, supported a second consecutive quarter of improving visits in this important segment. Initially, in the fourth quarter, diagnostics frequency, the percentage of visits that include diagnostic testing, expanded, highlighting the structural demand for advanced diagnostics and the role it plays in driving the broader veterinary care envelope. Our commercial organization continues to be a core competitive advantage for IDEXX.

In Q4, we completed the targeted expansions of our commercial footprint in geographies where we see significant long-term opportunity to increase diagnostics adoption and utilization. These new team members were fully onboarded and trained and are now active in their respective territories in Germany, the United Kingdom, and Australia, alongside an expansion in the United States. By enhancing commercial capabilities in these markets, we meaningfully reduce the number of accounts assigned to each representative. This enables more frequent, higher quality interactions with clinics and supports deeper integration of diagnostics into everyday care protocols. Our experience consistently shows that increased engagement leads to higher utilization, stronger customer satisfaction, and better medical outcomes. CAG Diagnostics' recurring revenue growth in the quarter was driven by a combination of strong volume gains, adoption of new innovations, and continued success in premium instrument placements.

Diagnostics frequency and utilization per visit remained important contributors, benefiting both patient care and clinic economics. Customer retention remains in the high 90s for our global CAG Diagnostics business. This level of loyalty underscores the value veterinarians place on the reliability, consistency, and clinical performance of IDEXX solutions and the strength of the partnerships our teams build over time. Our commercial team delivered an exceptionally productive year, achieving record instrument placements and sustained double-digit economic value growth, including contributions from 6,200 Catalyst placements, while delivering on our inVue Dx agenda. We continue to see solid momentum in both competitive convergence and greenfield accounts. For the full year, we delivered double-digit growth in our premium instrument install base, which now includes nearly 78,000 Catalyst analyzers globally.

Our expanding premium instrument install base provides multiple future growth vectors for the business, including benefits from higher diagnostics utilization and new menu additions over time. We recently announced several new innovations, including expanding the IDEXX Cancer Dx panel to include canine mast cell tumor detection, with availability expected mid-year 2026 in North America. This builds off a successful start to canine lymphoma commercialization, where we crossed an important milestone last quarter. Now, more than half the lymphoma tests submitted are for screening versus as an aid in diagnosis. Building off the successful start in North America, we are on track for the next stage of expansion, a Q1 international rollout of IDEXX Cancer Dx. Getting back to mast cell tumors, they are among the most common cancers in dogs, yet they can be difficult to identify early.

These lumps and bumps may go unnoticed, particularly in dogs with long coats, and often resemble benign lesions even when detected. This creates uncertainty for clinicians and pet owners alike and underscores the need for tools that support earlier, more confident assessment. Building on the strong momentum of Cancer Dx panel, mast cell tumor detection will be added at no additional cost, with no change to specimen requirements or workflow and sustained two-three day turnaround in the United States.

This expansion allows veterinarians to screen at-risk dogs for approximately a third of the most common cancer types during routine wellness visits and to evaluate the symptomatic patients when mast cell tumors are suspected. Importantly, it integrates seamlessly into existing workflows, reducing friction while expanding clinical insight. We believe this enhancement further strengthens Cancer Dx as a foundational tool for early detection and informed decision-making.

We have also seen exciting new developments with the first Cancer Dx marker for canine lymphoma. Evidence shows that we can detect lymphoma signal up to eight months prior to clinical manifestation of disease. This means crucial months of earlier detection and treatment potential. As patients undergo treatment, the lymphoma test has also been proven to be useful for repeated testing to monitor remission during CHOP chemotherapy, a common treatment for canine lymphoma. With this treatment monitoring use case, using reasonable assumptions, we see an addressable opportunity for canine lymphoma monitoring with Cancer Dx at approximately 130,000 tests per year in North America alone. As is the case with the broader diagnostics category, the more we test, the more we learn.

IDEXX inVue Dx continues to be a transformational platform, redefining point-of-care cell cytology across several high-volume use cases. The rollout of inVue Dx represents one of the most successful product launches in IDEXX history, and the fourth quarter reinforced that trajectory, bringing inVue Dx placements for the year to nearly 6,400. This performance was driven by strong customer demand, operational readiness, and highly positive clinician feedback, exceeding our initial expectations.

In December, we reached an important milestone with a controlled launch of fine needle aspirate, or FNA, on inVue Dx. While the initial menu is for mast cell tumor detection, we view the FNA capability as a platform of its own. As with all new platforms, this will be a controlled launch that builds over time, ensuring that the testing performance and customer experience are exceptional within the real-world environment of a veterinary practice.

FNA is a critical diagnostic technique used daily to evaluate masses and skin lesions. Historically, this process has been manual, time-intensive, and dependent on specialized expertise and external lab interpretation. By automating key steps and applying AI-powered analysis, inVue Dx allows technicians to prepare a sample and receive results within minutes while the patient is still in the clinic, with the option of a one-click pathologist evaluation for additional expertise and review of FNA images and results. The initial FNA rollout focuses on mast cell tumor detection, one of the most clinically significant canine cancers. Together with Cancer Dx, these innovations will give clinicians confidence at every step, from screening to diagnosis, so they can act sooner and faster, ruling cancer in or out with certainty.

Our Catalyst platform continues to reflect IDEXX's technology for life strategy, delivering sustained value through disciplined menu expansions that enhance diagnostic confidence and efficiency at the point of care. In 2025, we built on this strategy with growing adoption of Catalyst Pancreatic Lipase and the launch of Catalyst Cortisol, both of which enable veterinarians to make faster, more informed decisions during the patient visit. Catalyst Pancreatic Lipase, introduced in late 2024, saw broad uptake throughout 2025 as practices incorporated it into routine workflows to support timely pancreatitis assessment. The test provides rapid quantitative results for both dogs and cats, with reference lab quality, helping veterinarians address a clinically challenging condition with greater confidence. Adoption across tens of thousands of practices supported diagnostic frequency gains and improved patient outcomes.

We extended this momentum with the launch of Catalyst Cortisol in the third quarter, making the third Catalyst menu expansion in under a year when including Catalyst SmartQC. This test delivers real-time cortisol measurements to support endocrine diagnosis and ongoing disease management, allowing clinicians to move quickly from testing to action. Early adoption exceeded expectations and contributed to solid consumable growth in the second half. Together, these high-impact menu additions underscore the platform benefits of our robust installed base and Technology for Life strategy. We're able to rapidly expand new specialty tests like these across a large global installed base of approximately 78,000 Catalysts. For example, in North America, over 50% of Catalyst users adopted the pancreatic lipase test in the first 12 months. Our software ecosystem remains an important growth driver and a source of strategic differentiation.

IDEXX software is deeply integrated across diagnostics, imaging, client communication, and practice operations, helping clinics fully realize the value of their diagnostic investments. In 2025, we saw strong performance across our practice information management systems, as well as continued momentum in pet owner engagement tools such as Vello. Our ezyVet and Neo platforms delivered double-digit installed base growth, with particular strength among multi-location practices and corporate customers. We closed the year with record quarterly bookings, reflecting contracted future ARR, signaling strong momentum for IDEXX's software solutions. Clinics continue to choose our cloud data platforms for their modern interfaces, diagnostics interpretation, and ability to scale efficiently across locations with centralized workflows and data. Vello continues to expand, growing its users over 40% from last quarter and nearly tripling last year.

Clinics using Vello report improved communication with pet owners, increased visit frequency, and better compliance with diagnostics and treatment plans compared to practices relying on more basic engagement tools. We see Vello as a powerful complement to diagnostics, helping clinics translate clinical insight into action. We also made exciting progress in our diagnostic imaging business, where we launched in early January the most advanced radiography system in veterinary medicine, one that combines superb image quality at the lowest dose of radiation, an important consideration where 75% of technicians are women of childbearing age.

Our solution enables a connected diagnostic imaging workflow for veterinary professionals, where AI-powered viewer automates key clinical measurements, and customers can now submit and review telemedicine cases directly through Web PACS. As we close out 2025, IDEXX remains firmly committed to creating long-term value for our customers, employees, and shareholders.

Over the past year, we've strengthened our commercial foundation, scaled impactful innovations, and reinforced our leadership in diagnostics and software. We enter 2026 with confidence in our strategy, our teams, and the opportunities ahead. The human-animal bond continues to deepen, and expectations for quality veterinary care continue to rise.

IDEXX is uniquely positioned to support this evolution by delivering diagnostic and digital tools that enhance productivity, improve outcomes, and support sustainable practice growth. I want to close by thanking our 11,000 employees around the world. Your dedication to innovation, quality, and customer partnership is what enables IDEXX to deliver consistent performance year after year. We're excited about the year ahead and look forward to continuing to build on this momentum. With that, I'll open the line for Q&A. Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. If you would like to ask a question, please signal by pressing star one on your telephone keypad. If you are using a speakerphone, please make sure your mute function is turned off to allow your signal to reach our equipment. A voice prompt on the phone line will indicate when your line is open. Please state your name and company before posing your question. Again, press star one to ask a question. Our first question is going to come from Chris Schott. Please go ahead.

Chris Schott (Managing Director)

Great. Thanks so much for the question. I just wanted to start on the vet visit side. We're obviously seeing a pretty wide divergence between wellness and non-wellness visits, and it sounds like part of that, from your perspective, is the pandemic puppies starting to age here. But I'm just interested to see how you're thinking about this evolving in 2026 as we think about wellness versus non-wellness visits and that negative 2% overall number. And maybe just related to that, on price, I know you're targeting a bit less price this year. What are you seeing at the vet practice level in terms of price increases? I guess, are you seeing any signs of some of these corporate practices starting to moderate price at all this year as well?

I'm just trying to get my hands around some of those dynamics. Thanks so much.

Jay Mazelsky (President and CEO)

Yeah. Good morning, Chris. Yeah, just in terms of, let me start with the vet visit profile first. We have seen some headwinds, you know, more on the wellness side. We think that's, at this point, really macro, you know, probably in the, you know, lower end, economic demographic households, where there's obviously some financial pressures. Less so on the non-wellness side, obviously, and we have seen some green shoots now two quarters in a row with those, pets, you know, five years plus starting to grow. So we think that's positive. We think that likely reflects the pandemic adoption boom and these pets aging, and will likely continue going forward.

In terms of 2026, we just, we kept that baseline of about 2% decline until, you know, I think until we have clear evidence that that's going to improve. We thought that was a, you know, an appropriate path to take. From a vet inflation standpoint, you know, maybe on the vet services side or from the corporate perspective, we have seen some moderation. It's still running hotter than CPI, and, you know, I think that will come down over time. What we say is, I think the corporate practices recognize that that may be an obstacle to getting care with some of their clients, and they're interested in being more aggressive and driving demand and patient traffic into their practices. So I think more to come as that develops.

Andrew Emerson (EVP and CFO)

Yeah, and Chris, I'd just add on the visit dynamic, you know, just in terms of both the non-well and the wellness visits, we continue to see a really nice quality of visits overall. The frequency and utilization continues to expand in both categories. And so even in those, you know, groups in terms of the wellness and discretionary types of visits, when they are coming into the clinic, you know, we're continuing to see really positive momentum for the use of diagnostics, which I think is a key part of our strategy overall.

Jay Mazelsky (President and CEO)

Yeah. Keep in mind that the non-wellness visits, you know, represent about 60% of the visits, but 70%-75% of the diagnostics revenue. So this combination of what, you know, Andrew put his finger on, which is they're using more diagnostics when they come in, so we call that frequency, but also it's more intensive, I think is an important, you know, is an important factor to keep in mind, just from a through a diagnostic lens.

Chris Schott (Managing Director)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Our next question is going to come from Erin Wright from Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.

Erin Wright (Senior Equity Research Analyst)

So, could you speak a little bit about the underlying drivers of the consumables growth? How should we be thinking about continuing mid-teens growth into 2026, or the cadence that we should be thinking about things here? You know, what are the components of this? What will you lap? And then also, you know, I assume that inVue isn't necessarily directly contributing all that much in terms of meaningful consumables flow-through as yet, so is there more to come on that front? What are you seeing in terms of that consumables flow-through? And, and then if not, like, how do you think about when you enter into these contracts with placing an inVue, how is that translating into consumables growth across the entire portfolio? Thanks.

Jay Mazelsky (President and CEO)

Yeah. Let me, let me just maybe set this up from an innovation standpoint, and then I'll hand it off to Andrew, who can provide some additional specifics. The, you know, the approach that we take with putting platforms out in the market and growing our installed base with this overlay of technology for life has proved very successful in terms of driving relevant consumables testing. So if you think about Catalyst with, you know, these three tests over the last year, plus with SmartQC, Pancreatic Lipase and Cortisol, we now have almost 78,000 Catalyst on a global basis. And keep in mind, the way we incent our sales organization is really on quality of premium instrument placements, Catalyst being obviously an important one, but really across the board.

So they're looking to make sure that we place these in customers who are going to use them and who have, you know, higher utilization patterns. So in terms of, you know, driving the consumables growth, it really is a combination of being able to grow our installed base of premium instruments and increase utilization intensity through innovation. And, you know, for inVue, that's part of the story, of course, with cell cytology, blood morphology, ear cytology, and now FNA for lumps and bumps. And so that's tracking to, you know, plan in terms of consumables usage. So, you know, in combination, it's all these things that are driving the type of performance we've seen in 2025 and incorporated into 2026 guidance.

Andrew Emerson (EVP and CFO)

Yeah, maybe just to add a couple specific metrics there, you know, both for the full year and Q4, the install base actually expanded by about 12%, overall. So I think really solid economic, you know, view here of the expansion of the install base, to Jay's point, that's supporting the consumable growth. You know, we also had a really exceptional new and competitive Catalyst placements in the fourth quarter. So we did over 1,350 new and competitive placements from a Catalyst perspective on a global basis, and we did over about 360 in North America. So, you know, really nice trajectory there, and, you know, we see rapid uptake of the new innovations that we deliver.

You know, inVue, I think, you know, continues to be more the $3,500-$5,500 per instrument. We're tracking well to that. That includes FNA, which we'll launch later this year, as we previously announced, and, you know, we're excited by, you know, the expansion of that, that controlled rollout.

Erin Wright (Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Okay. And then just quickly on reference lab, you mentioned new customer growth. Is that US market or, or is it international? Where are you seeing the tangible market share gains? And then is it innovation that's really changing the game in terms of you winning business in that inherently competitive category? Thanks.

Jay Mazelsky (President and CEO)

Yeah. We think we're doing really well on a global basis, and there have been a number of factors involved in seeing that reference lab growth. You know, first, we've invested heavily in the network, the reference lab network, so the customers get the type of service that they expect, you know, next day, in most cases. We've invested heavily in enabling infrastructure, whether it's lab information systems and VetConnect PLUS localized outside the U.S. That's been important. And of course, the innovation story, really across the board, whether you look at fecal antigen and, you know, our vector-borne disease, but cancer also has got a lot of attention, both in terms of differentiation and having customers who don't use us as their primary reference lab send us samples.

So in terms of, you know, competitive submissions, we're at approximately 18% now. That represents, in, in many cases, a complete break for workflow, veterinarians and customers really focusing and prioritizing on the patient, not who their primary reference lab, you know, provider is. They start with cancer as part of a panel, and then, you know, we believe over time will give us more of their business. So I think it's all of those things in combination, which has, you know, created really strong differentiation in the reference lab business, and we're just seeing good growth as a result of that.

Operator (participant)

Our next question is going to come from Mike Ryskin from Bank of America.

Mike Ryskin (Managing Director)

Great. Thanks for, thanks for the question. I want to ask a, sort of a big picture one on, on innovation. You guys had a, a really strong year for inVue Dx placements in 2025. You know, beat all of your targets as you went through the year. I think you called out $75 million revenue contribution in 2025. Any way you could quantify, you know, what Cancer Dx was, or what sort of a total innovation contribution in 2025 was? And what I'm getting at is, would be great to get a sense of how you think about inVue Dx and Cancer Dx, what the dollar contribution for 2026 would be, just so we can look at the year-to-year comparison. Thanks.

Jay Mazelsky (President and CEO)

Yeah, Mike, I'm going to keep this high level and, you know, Andrew may provide some specifics. You know, the way we think about innovation, there's direct economic contribution. There's obviously, you know, inVue revenue and consumable usage and sales as a result of that. But there's also a tremendous leveraged impact, indirect economic benefits when you place capital. And it, it's very often placed through an IDEXX 360 type program, inspires usage of our broader portfolio, including reference labs and software and anything that is part of that program. So we've seen, I think, as a result of innovation and overlapping innovation, cancer being a great example with FNA and IDEXX Cancer Dx with mast cell, that's coming in 2026, a leveraged impact, a multiplier impact across our entire portfolio.

I think customers feel like it all works better together. It optimizes their workflow. They're able to really focus on what they want to focus on, which is the patient, of course, and we take care of everything else.

Andrew Emerson (EVP and CFO)

Yeah, I think Jay hit it well. Just in terms of a couple specifics, yeah, we haven't broken out the Cancer Dx component of that, but yeah, I would say it's a direct revenue contribution, but it's modest. You know, I think the standalone test pricing is about $60, and when it's included in a broader diagnostic panel, which we're seeing increasing % of the tests being done that way, it's about $15. So the direct contribution here isn't super large, but to Jay's point, I think it's really the opportunity, you know, to continue to see broader adoption of our screening and core blood work. And over time, I think, you know, it'll be really compelling, you know, to see the direct contribution as well.

You know, we believe that for Cancer Dx, you know, the opportunity to expand that panel or profile is about $1.1 billion over time. So yeah, it's a really meaningfully large category that, you know, we want to continue to advance, you know, through the innovation, including the launch of mesothelioma, as Jay highlighted.

Jay Mazelsky (President and CEO)

Yeah, one. You know, one, one way to think about the, the innovation impact is if you take a look at Catalyst One, and, and we, we began shipping that in late, 2014, and you compare its economic value, you know, 10+ years later, as a result of coming out with, with all the, the slides and the innovation we have, you know, it's about 2.5 times as, as impactful from an EV standpoint. And so that- that's always been our strategy, that, that testing, you know, drives differentiation, not just within that modality, but across the enterprise, and that the instruments that we have placed, in the case of Catalyst, nearly 78,000, they- they're just-- they're used more, and they're therefore, worth more to the company.

Mike Ryskin (Managing Director)

Okay. Okay. And then, if I could follow up on price, you guys talking about 4% total company next year, 3.5% in the U.S. It seems like you're bringing that down, as you had previously said, to be, you know, back within the LRP. I'm just curious what the conversations with vet clinics have been on pricing power the last couple of years. I know that, you know, in 2021 and 2022, it was sort of understood that with inflation, what it was, you know, everyone's going to be taking a lot more price. Are you having more conversation with vets on that? Is there any pushback? Is there any dialogue with you on how to manage that?

I know, you know, you have your long-term contracts and relationships, but just wondering if that's becoming a more common discussion point with your customers?

Jay Mazelsky (President and CEO)

Yeah. You know, it hasn't been a big flashpoint with customers. They recognize that during the period of high inflation, they and their partners needed to take a little bit more in price. Their costs went up. They wanted to invest back in their practices, their staff, and, you know, I think that's normal. We've, if you take a look at over the last, you know, four plus years, we've remained pretty close to where the CPI is, a bit above, but not much above. You know, I think what we've seen now is more a volume-based recovery in our business, and so, you know, it's more balanced. We're getting back to, you know, I think, a volume-driven top-line growth profile, which is healthy.

Inflation has decided, you know, it's a little bit under, you know, 3%, so I think it just reflects getting back to more of a historical baseline of what we've seen in the business.

Mike Ryskin (Managing Director)

All right. Thank you.

Andrew Emerson (EVP and CFO)

Our next question is going to come from Jon Block from Stifel.

Jon Block (Managing Director)

Yeah. Hi, guys. Good morning. First one, pretty straightforward, second one, not, not so much. But just on the first one, you know, Jay or Andrew, any thoughts or color on the 2026 international COAG DX recurring revenue growth rate versus the U.S.? Just as we sit here and sort of contemplate the year to tie to the worldwide, I know you've got some of those commercial investments going on in international markets, and, you know, arguably some of the innovation is more in an infancy stage relative to the U.S., so any color there would be great. And I'll just ask the follow-up.

Jay Mazelsky (President and CEO)

Yeah. So, you know, we think the international region offers, and we've shared sort of the assumptions behind this profile, a bit of a higher growth profile than the U.S. over time. It. Part of that just comes back to where they are in terms of diagnostics usage, how often it's included. It's more of a sick patient testing market. We've made some very substantial investments over time, not just in the commercial piece. As important as that is, you know, we've shared that, we've invested in Germany and U.K., Ireland, and Australia, but also the reference lab network, all the enabling infrastructure, which is important from just a customer success standpoint. So, you know, we do think the international opportunity is a bit higher from a CAG Diagnostics recurring growth rate.

It obviously still requires sector development, but all the pieces are in place. And so what we've seen is that we've sustained, you know, double-digit growth now for multiple years, and I think that's just the result of the pieces that we've put in place and the focus that we have, but also the inherent customer opportunity.

Jon Block (Managing Director)

Okay, thanks for that. Maybe the more detailed one. Andrew, can you help me out with this if I've got these numbers correct? So the 1Q 2026 Coag Dx recurring revenue growth guidance of 9.5% at the midpoint is off of 4.5 comp. So the two-year stack for the first quarter is 14%, and that includes a 50 basis points days tailwind, if I heard you correctly. The full year 2026 guide for Coag Dx recurring is 9% at the midpoint off what you did in eight, so a 17% stack. So can you just talk to why the 1Q guidance is, you know, a decent discount to full year on the stack basis? Maybe tell us what you saw in the first month of the year with some weather challenges that seem to be out there.

Any color there would be helpful. Thanks, guys.

Andrew Emerson (EVP and CFO)

Yeah, thanks, Jon. So I think, you know, just in terms of Q1, you know, the performance that we had outlined, you know, what I would highlight is really consistent with the full year outlook overall. Certainly, we are, you know, picking up some days benefit, which I think, you know, would be captured in that 4.5% metric that you quoted. We had a bit of a day's headwind last year, and so we're picking that back up to some degree. So when you normalize for those, I think it's a relatively more consistent story. Certainly, I think, you know, from a clinical visit pressure, you know, it's an area that we want to make sure that, you know, we are - we continue to understand.

In Q4, we saw about a 1.7% decline in overall clinical visits, so we're planning for about 2% for both Q1 and the full year. So it's a metric we'll continue to watch, as well as, you know, some pricing dynamics as we get into 2026. There's a bit of a headwind, you know, into the full year. So I think the way we look at it is it's actually a relatively consistent story and, you know, we're really focused on executing against the innovation that we have. But there's nothing I'd call out specific to, you know, January at this point.

You know, we won't get into, you know, kind of a week to week or month to month, you know, metrics here, but we feel good about, you know, the Q1 positioning overall.

Jon Block (Managing Director)

All right. I'll follow up more on. Thanks, guys.

Operator (participant)

Our next question is going to come from Daniel Clark, from Leerink Partners.

Daniel Clark (VP of Equity Research)

Great. Thank you so much. Just had a question on inVue placements. Where are we sort of in terms of placements into the larger corporate practices, and how are you thinking about placements into those groups in the 2026 guide?

Jay Mazelsky (President and CEO)

Yeah, we're now placing inVue Dx into corporate practices. You know, as I've shared in the past, they tend, it tends to be a little bit longer sell-in cycle. They like to do the pilots, and then they want to make sure that there's both clinical and economic benefits. So they approach it a little bit differently than independent practices, but we're now well into the sell-in and placement within the corporate groups.

Daniel Clark (VP of Equity Research)

Gotcha, thanks. And then just one on sort of divergence in wellness and non-wellness visits. When we think about the relative stability of non-wellness heading into 2026, if that does hold, like, would it be fair to kind of take the second half of 2025 run rate for non-wellness and extrapolate that forward? Or, like, how should we think about kind of that run rate into 2026 in the context of the 2% overall visit decline guide that you gave? Thank you.

Jay Mazelsky (President and CEO)

Yeah. So the, you know, the 2% for 2026 is the baseline, and that includes both well and non-well, you know, roughly within what we saw in 2025. What I would say is the non-well is, you know, more resilient to the macro pressures. Obviously, you know, pets are getting sick. They need to come, you know, into the, into the practice. So I think, you know, that, that they tend to be a bit more resilient. We also expect that the pandemic, you know, a dog and cat, puppy and kitten boom will, you know, continue and will those green shoots that we've seen will continue to modestly grow over time as these pets age and require more healthcare.

You know, I think it's reflected at this point in the 2% decline guide for 2026, and, you know, hopefully, as time progresses, that improves.

Operator (participant)

Our next question is going to come from Brandon Vazquez, from William Blair.

Brandon Vazquez (Equity Research Analyst)

Everyone, excuse me, thanks for taking the question. Maybe you can start—pivot us a little bit. We spent a lot of time talking about the good innovation on the hardware side. Maybe you can spend a couple of minutes talking about the software, especially some of the pet owner-facing ones, like Vello. You know, I don't think we've gotten a good update on those. How are they contributing to results? And then, more specifically, are they really helping you offset any of this weakness we're seeing in end markets? Are you in the accounts that are using things like Vello, are you seeing, better pull-through of the portfolio?

Jay Mazelsky (President and CEO)

We are. You know, the software piece is a very, very important strategic business within the overall IDEXX business. It's a great business in and of itself, software business. It's growing strongly. We see good profitability. There's a nice leveraged impact in terms of diagnostics. We've grown our cloud-based PIMS placements at double digits, so we're a leader within cloud-based PIMS within the North American market, something that we think is very important. You know, with that, from just an ARR standpoint, we see pet owner engagement. The application, Vello, is getting excellent traction. You know, we shared some statistics, both quarterly from a sequential basis and in year-on-year. We know that those customers who use our software solutions use more of our diagnostics, specifically with reference to Vello.

We see fewer no-shows, more clinical visits, more diagnostics usage, all the things that you would expect, so it's an important part, an important offset. Now, it's still relatively small compared to our total install base of customers who use diagnostics, but we're very bullish on it, and we think it's an important element of really driving a solutions portfolio.

Andrew Emerson (EVP and CFO)

Yeah, we saw a solid double-digit growth in software on our recurring basis in the fourth quarter. And to Jay's point, yeah, I think he had highlighted that Vello expanded its users by about 40%. So we're seeing some nice traction there, and, you know, we're gonna continue to build off of that momentum. But there's strong demand, I think, from a customer perspective, you know, to continue to move to this vertical SaaS orientation that I think we're amplifying through the different offerings that we have.

Brandon Vazquez (Equity Research Analyst)

Okay. And as a follow-up here, you know, as we're a little early playing with the numbers still this morning, but it looks like to get to the 2026 guidance, you don't really need to push your utilization metric too much, even when you back out price next year to kind of be within the midpoint of that range. But I also hear you making comments about how FNA is still in controlled launch, and you maybe haven't even really gotten into the corporate accounts within view yet. Correct me if either of those are wrong, especially on the latter. But I guess the question being, one, is that correct? Like, is utilization largely consistent through 2026? And then, two, are some of these opportunities to maybe push utilization even higher?

You've yet to see some of the benefits of innovation in the utilization bucket. Thank you.

Andrew Emerson (EVP and CFO)

Yeah. So, Brandon, just in terms of the 2026 guide, you know, one thing that I would highlight is, you know, if you look at the midpoint, from a comparability on the CAG diagnostic recurring growth rate, you know, where we ended about 8% in 2025, you know, we're midpoint is about 9% for 2026, so about 100 basis point improvement, you know, year to year. A lot of that is driven by volume, and, you know, certainly it comes with the expansion of our customer base, but also just, you know, maintaining and growing, you know, strong utilization metrics, overall, led by some of the innovation benefits that we have. So, I think you captured the controlled launch, correctly, you know, from an FNA standpoint.

Yeah, that, that'll be something that helps us in 2026. We've captured that in our outlook already. And as Jay just highlighted, you know, I think we are placing inVue into corporate accounts at this point. So, that, that's an area that, you know, we've been working towards, and, you know, typically takes a little bit longer than, you know, independents. But we feel good that we have a nice momentum there, and we're targeting about 5,500 inVue placements for 2026 as well. So, you know, feel really good about the innovation and continuing to help our customers drive growth.

You know, I think we're just being cautious, you know, relative to the macro environment and the sector trends that we've seen on areas like clinical visits that, you know, continue to be more muted. But overall, the business is performing quite well despite that.

Operator (participant)

Our last question is gonna come from Andrea Alfonso from UBS. Please go ahead.

Andrea Alfonso (Executive Director)

Hi, good morning, everyone. Thanks for taking my question. So I just was curious about the dynamics underpinning the gross margin mix in the quarter. It looks like pricing growth was pretty stable sequentially, although you did cite some, you know, pressure from mix. And I guess as we think about the 2026 margin expansion of 30-80 basis points organically, how do we think about your gross margin improvements stacking versus that 30-80 basis points? I think you mentioned the moderation in pricing in the U.S., and obviously still calling out the mix impact. And then I guess the other part of that algorithm is how do we think about SG&A growth, recognizing some of the ongoing commercial investments you're making? Thanks so much.

Andrew Emerson (EVP and CFO)

Yeah, thanks, Andrea. You know, just in terms of what we saw in Q4, we did have modest pressure just from strong instrument revenues in the quarter. Yeah, I think we had highlighted that on the call, but we still delivered about 60 basis points comparably from a gross margin expansion standpoint. So, quite solid on the improvement that we see on gross margins. And then for the quarter, we also saw about 120 basis points of operating margin improvement as well, so quite solid there as well. That included investments that we were making. Jay had highlighted, we completed some of the expansions that we were expecting to, that we announced about midyear.

So that was factored certainly into, you know, the overall SG&A growth, as well as, you know, continued investment in areas like innovation, you know, with the strong R&D number as well. So, you know, that's, that's how, you know, the quarter played out. I think that was largely in line with our expectations. You know, I think the implied midpoint was right around, you know, those same metrics. As we think about 2026, you know, our guidance for operating margin improvement is, is the 30-80 basis points that you'd highlighted on a comparable basis. That's largely gonna be gross margin-led. Yeah, I think we, we continue to see benefits from a gross margin perspective there as we invest back into the business for the longer term.

So we expect most of that would likely be gross margin-led overall, and, you know, we'll be we feel good about, you know, kind of where that positions us as we invest back into the long term.

Jay Mazelsky (President and CEO)

Okay, thank you for the questions. We'll now conclude our Q&A portion of this morning's call. It's been a pleasure to review another quarter and full year of strong IDEXX results. So thank you for your participation this morning, and we'll now conclude the call.

Operator (participant)

This concludes today's call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.