바이오래드(BIO) 2026년 3분기 실적 콘퍼런스콜: ddPCR 성장 및 마진 확대

바이오래드 래버러토리즈(NYSE: BIO)가 임상진단 부문의 호조와 드롭렛 디지털 PCR(Droplet Digital PCR) 장비의 지속적인 강세에 힘입어 2026년 3분기 완만한 매출 성장을 기록했다고 발표했다. 구조조정 비용과 무형자산 손상차손으로 인해 GAAP 기준 영업손실을 기록했으나 비GAAP 기준 수익성은 개선되었다.

핵심 요약

• 3분기 매출은 약 6억 5,600만 달러로 전년 동기 대비 보고 기준 0.5%, 통화 중립 기준 0.7% 증가했다. 이는 바이오래드의 2026년 첫 통화 중립 기준 성장 분기였다.
• 임상진단 부문 매출은 정도관리 시스템, 당뇨병 제품 및 주문 시점 요인에 힘입어 통화 중립 기준 2.8% 증가한 약 4억 200만 달러를 기록했다.
• 생명과학 부문 매출은 공정 크로마토그래피 매출 감소와 학술 연구 수요 부진으로 인해 통화 중립 기준 2.4% 감소한 2억 5,500만 달러를 기록했다. 공정 크로마토그래피를 제외하면 해당 부문은 2.5% 성장했다.
• ddPCR 포트폴리오는 통화 중립 기준 7% 성장했으며, 장비 매출은 QX700 포트폴리오를 필두로 3개 분기 연속 20% 이상 증가했다.
• 비GAAP 매출총이익률은 전년 동기의 53.5%에서 54.5%로 확대되었으며, 비GAAP 영업이익률은 11.8%에서 12.8%로 개선되었다.
• 바이오래드는 2026년 가이던스를 재확인하며, 연간 통화 중립 기준 매출 증가율이 -3%에서 +0.5% 범위의 중간값 부근을 기록할 것으로 예상했다.

핵심 재무 데이터

바이오래드는 생명과학 부문의 취득 무형자산과 관련해 약 5,000만 달러의 비현금성 손상차손을 기록했다. 경영진은 이번 비용 처리가 투자 수익률을 우선시하기 위한 포트폴리오 결정에 따른 것이라고 밝혔다.

사업 및 영업 실적

임상진단 부문은 정도관리 시스템과 당뇨병 제품의 호조로 성장세로 돌아섰다. 경영진은 정도관리가 회사의 가장 큰 진단 사업 부문이라며 모든 지역에서 수요가 여전히 견조하다고 밝혔다.

생명과학 부문의 실적은 엇갈린 양상을 보였다. 공정 크로마토그래피 매출 감소와 학술 연구 부문의 지속적인 부진이 ddPCR 장비 매출 증가분을 상쇄했다. 공정 크로마토그래피는 2026년 내내 전분기 대비 개선세를 보였으나, 경영진은 4분기에 전분기 대비 감소를 예상하면서도 연간 기준으로는 전년 대비 개선될 것으로 내다보고 있다.

ddPCR은 핵심 성장 동력으로 유지되었다. 장비 매출은 기존 qPCR에서의 전환, 경쟁 우위 확보, 제품 포트폴리오 확대 및 간소화된 워크플로에 힘입어 3개 분기 연속 20% 이상 증가했다. 소모품 연계 매출은 개선되고 있으나 아직 정상화되지 않았으며, 최근 설치된 장비의 가동률이 최대치로 올라가는 과정에서 2027년까지도 정상 수준을 밑돌 가능성이 있다.

바이오래드는 이번 분기에 케미독 프로(ChemiDoc Pro) 웨스턴 블롯 이미징 시스템을 출시했다. 해당 시스템의 분석 알고리즘은 수천 장의 웨스턴 블롯 이미지로 학습된 AI를 활용한다. 회사 측은 R&D 우선순위 조정을 통해 출시 시점을 약 2개 분기 앞당겼다고 밝혔다. 또한 바이오래드는 누비아(Nuvia) 레진을 포함하도록 포사이트 프로(Foresight Pro) 프리팩 크로마토그래피 컬럼 포트폴리오를 확장했다.

지역별로는 중국이 2분기에서 이연된 주문과 전년 동기의 낮은 기저 효과에 힘입어 성장세로 돌아섰다. 그럼에도 경영진은 자국산 공급업체 선호 현상과 개정된 국가의료보장국(NHSA) 지침에 따른 가격 압박을 언급했다.

경영진 가이던스

바이오래드는 2026년 비GAAP 가이던스를 다음과 같이 재확인했다.

4분기의 경우 경영진은 일반적인 계절성에 부합하게 보고 기준 매출이 전분기 대비 5%~6% 증가할 것으로 예상했다. 판관비(SG&A)는 3분기 수준을 유지하고, R&D 비용은 전분기 대비 300만 달러 증가할 것으로 예상된다. 감가상각비는 약 4,000만 달러로 전망된다.

경영진은 장비 비중이 커진 제품 믹스, 공정 크로마토그래피의 전분기 대비 매출 감소, 연료비 상승으로 인해 4분기 비GAAP 매출총이익률이 전분기 대비 하락할 것으로 예상했다.

2027년과 관련해 바이오래드는 플러스 성장으로의 복귀와 추가적인 마진 확대에 집중할 것이라고 밝혔으나, 경영진은 성장이 아직 완전히 정상화되지 않을 수 있다고 주의를 당부했다. 회사는 3,000만~3,500만 달러의 구조조정 비용 절감 효과가 예상되며, 2028년에 그 효과가 완전히 발휘될 것이라는 점을 재차 강조했다.

위험 요인 및 중점 분야

• 미국의 학술 및 정부 기관 수요는 여전히 부진하다. 3분기 미국 국립보건원(NIH) 지출은 전년 동기 대비 약 15% 감소했으며, 연방 회계연도 기준 미 의회 세출 승인액보다 약 60억 달러 적게 마감했다.
• 바이오래드의 4분기 전망치에는 미국 학술 및 정부 최종 시장의 회복이 반영되지 않았다.
• 경영진은 중국의 개정된 체외진단 가격 책정 지침으로 인해 2027년 매출이 수백만 달러대 중반가량 감소할 것으로 예상했다.
• 중동 지역 물류비는 여전히 높은 수준이며, 바이오래드의 사업 계획 가설에는 2027년까지 차질이 지속될 것이라는 가정이 포함되어 있다.
• 경영진은 임상검사실보수법(PAMA)의 검사실 수가 변경에 따른 2027년 간접적 영향은 제한적일 것으로 예상하지만, 최종 수가는 11월에 발표될 예정이었다.
• ddPCR 소모품 가동률은 견조한 장비 설치에도 불구하고 정상화되지 않았으며 2027년까지 역풍으로 남을 수 있다.

애널리스트 질의응답 하이라이트

경영진은 학술 연구 자금 지원의 지속적인 압박, 중국의 가격 정책 및 물류 문제를 고려할 때 2027년 매출 성장이 플러스를 기록하겠지만 완전히 정상화되지는 않을 것이라고 밝혔다. 추가적인 마진 확대는 여전히 명시된 목표로 유지되고 있다.

ddPCR과 관련하여 바이오래드는 비교 기준이 까다로워짐에 따라 20%를 상회하는 장비 매출 성장을 지속하겠다고 확언하지는 않았다. 그러나 경영진은 신규 고객 확보와 지속적인 플랫폼 도입으로 ddPCR이 단기 및 중기적으로 중요한 성장 동력이 될 것이라고 밝혔다.

경영진은 또한 고객들이 인실리코(in silico) 모델링에서 습식 실험실(wet-lab) 테스트로 전환함에 따라 AI 기반 신약 개발이 수요를 뒷받침해 실험실 활동과 시약 활용도를 높일 가능성이 있다고 언급했다.

자본 배분과 관련해 바이오래드는 자사주 매입이 정례적이기보다는 기회주의적으로 유지될 것이라고 밝혔다. 회사는 대대적인 기업 인수를 추진하지는 않지만, 진단 또는 생명과학 툴 분야에서 1억~5억 달러의 매출 규모를 가진 거래는 검토할 수 있다고 밝혔다. 경영진은 또한 적절한 상황이 조성될 경우 사르토리우스 AG 지분을 유동화할 수 있다는 점을 재확인했다.

실적 발표 콘퍼런스 콜 전문

전체 실적 발표 컨퍼런스 콜 녹취록

경영진 발표

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. My name is Krista, and I will be your operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to Bio-Rad's Third Quarter 2026 Results Conference Call and Webcast. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to turn the conference over to Ruben Argueta, Bio-Rad's Head of Investor Relations. You may begin.

Ruben Argueta

Thank you, operator. Good afternoon, everyone. And thank you for joining us. Today, we will review the financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2026, and provide an update on key business trends for Bio-Rad. With me on the call today are Norman Schwartz, our Chief Executive Officer; Jon DiVincenzo, President and Chief Operating Officer; and Roop Lakkaraju, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

Before we begin our review, I would like to remind everyone that we will be making forward-looking statements about management's goals, plans and expectations, our future financial performance and other matters. These statements are based on assumptions and expectations of future events that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Our actual results may differ materially from these plans, goals and expectations. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, and I encourage you to review our filings with the SEC, where we discuss in detail the risk factors in our business. The company does not intend to update any forward-looking statements made during the call today.

Finally, our remarks today will include references to non-GAAP financials, including net income and diluted earnings per share, which are financial measures that are not defined under generally accepted accounting principles. In addition to excluding certain atypical and nonrecurring items, our non-GAAP financial measures exclude changes in the equity value of our stake in Sartorius AG in order to provide investors with a better understanding of Bio-Rad's underlying operational performance. Investors should review the reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to the comparable GAAP results contained in our earnings release. We have also posted a supplemental earnings presentation in the Investor Relations section of our website for your reference.

With that, I will now turn the call over to our Chief Operating Officer, Jon DiVincenzo.

Jonathan DiVincenzo

Thanks, Ruben. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us. The third quarter represented another step forward in our efforts to improve Bio-Rad's operating and financial performance. Total company revenue in the third quarter was approximately $656 million, an increase of 0.5% on a reported basis and 0.7% on a currency-neutral basis compared with the prior year. This was our first quarter of currency-neutral growth this year. Gross margin expanded to 54.5% on a non-GAAP basis.

While the pace of revenue growth remains modest, we are encouraged by the progress across several areas of the business. Clinical diagnostics returned to growth, supported by quality systems and diabetes products. In life science, excluding process chromatography, revenue increased 2.5% year-over-year. This represents the third consecutive quarter of sequential improvement in the growth rate. It was driven by our genomics portfolio, including our Droplet Digital PCR business, led by the QX700 portfolio. ddPCR instrument revenue increased more than 20% for the third consecutive quarter, supported by both conversions from traditional qPCR and competitive wins. We believe these wins are attributable to our expanded portfolio, market-leading assay library and a simplified workflow.

While consumables performance continues to improve, pull-through has not yet normalized, and that could continue into 2027. The pace of our placements over the past year gives us confidence that as those systems ramp to full utilization, pull-through will normalize with them. Longer term, we remain very excited about the opportunity in ddPCR. There are numerous applications for our technology, ranging from biopharma R&D to clinical diagnostics to applied testing and the penetration remains low. We are confident ddPCR will remain a durable growth driver for Bio-Rad for many years to come. These results demonstrate progress in our business.

Turning to some of our key end markets. Conditions remain mixed with encouraging developments in some areas and continued pressure in others. In biopharma, we are seeing signs of improving customer activity. While the recovery remains gradual, we view these trends as constructive for the demand for the coming years. Within process chromatography, revenue has improved sequentially throughout 2026. While we expect a sequential decline in the fourth quarter, 2026 revenue should improve year-over-year.

In the U.S., funding conditions in the academic and government markets remain challenging. NIH outlays declined approximately 15% in the third quarter compared with the prior year and finished the federal fiscal year roughly $6 billion below congressional appropriations. Consistent with this environment, our fourth quarter outlook does not assume a recurring academic and government end markets. In the United States, we're closely watching the Protecting Access to Medicare Act, or PAMA, which governs Medicare reimbursement rates for surging clinical laboratory tests. Preliminary rise rates were published in September and final rates expected in November.

While Bio-Rad is not directly reimbursed under these rates, changes in laboratory reimbursement can influence our customers' economics and purchasing decisions. We have not observed a meaningful change in customer purchasing behavior attributed to the proposed rates to date and expect any indirect impact on our business in 2027 to be limited. We will continue to evaluate the implications as the final rates become available. Within our APAC region, we saw a return to growth in China in the third quarter. This performance was largely driven by orders that shifted from the second quarter, together with a favorable prior year comparison.

The operating environment here remains challenging, with continued preferences for domestic suppliers and pricing power affecting the competitive landscape. The National Healthcare Security Administration's updated guidelines continues to create pricing pressure across China's in vitro diagnostics market. Based on our current assessment, we estimated revenue impact in the middle single-digit millions of dollars in 2027. We are addressing this environment through commercial execution, portfolio management and cost discipline while maintaining a measured view of the near-term market outlook.

Within EMEA, in the Middle East, our [indiscernible] teams continue to work closely with our customers and supply chain partners to maintain product availability. Logistics costs remain elevated, and our current planning assumptions contemplate continued disruption into 2027. We believe maintaining a realistic set of assumptions is important as we manage through these external changes.

Now turning to our operational priorities. We remain focused on 3 interconnected objectives: strengthening execution, improving our cost structure and increasing the productivity across our enterprise. Within our global supply chain, we continue to advance initiatives focus on operational efficiency, procurement, inventory management and optimization of our manufacturing footprint. These initiatives are important components of our efforts to improve gross margin and build a more efficient operating model.

Another important enabler is artificial intelligence. We are approaching AI with 2 practical objectives; improving how we operate the company and enhancing the price we deliver to our customers. As discussed on the Q2 call, we're applying AI to processes where we believe it can improve productivity, decision-making and execution. Our focus on applications that deliver measurable business value. Over time, we expect these efforts, together with the broader organizational improvements to continue -- to contribute to productivity.

The second opportunity to incorporate AI into our products to improve their capabilities and the value they deliver to our customers. And that brings me to innovation. We continue to make progress in strengthening our product development pipeline and improve the pace at which we bring new solutions to market. During the third quarter, we launched the ChemiDoc Pro imaging system, our new flagship platform for Western blot imaging. This launch is a tangible example of the benefits of our R&D portfolio prioritization initiated in late 2025. For example, by concentrating resources on selected development programs and improving execution, we were able to accelerate ChemiDoc Pro launch by approximately 2 quarters.

Its analytical algorithm was developed using AI trained on thousands of Western blot images with the objective of improving the consistency and reliability of image analysis and image interpretation. For customers, these capabilities are designed to enhance confidence in their results and support research productivity. For Bio-Rad, the launch expands our opportunity to serve both existing customers considering system upgrades and new customers seeking advanced imaging capabilities. We also expanded our Foresight Pro prepacked chromatography column portfolio during the quarter to include our Nuvia resins. This extension broadens the formats available to customers and reflects closer collaboration amongst our product development, marketing and field application teams.

While individual product launches will contribute to growth over time, our broader objective is to establish a more consistent and predictable cadence of innovation across our portfolio. As part of our ongoing portfolio evaluation, we also recorded a noncash impairment of certain intangible assets during the quarter. We are taking a disciplined approach to evaluating technologies and product programs including making decisions about where continued investment offers the greatest potential churn. Our objective is to improve the return on R&D investments to support revenue growth.

So in closing, the third quarter provided encouraging evidence of progress. We returned to modest currency-neutral revenue growth, delivered another quarter of strong ddPCR instrument performance and continued to improve our non-GAAP gross margin and advanced important organizational and innovation initiatives. Recognizing that our end markets remain uneven, our priorities remain clear: consistent organic growth, improved profitability and strengthening the execution capabilities of the company. There is more work ahead, but we are encouraged by the progress we are making and remain focused on delivering measurable, sustainable improvements in performance.

With that, I will turn the call over to Roop.

Roop Lakkaraju

Thank you, Jon, and good afternoon. I'd like to start with a review of the third quarter 2026 results, then move to guidance. Overall, net revenues for the third quarter of 2026 were approximately $656 million on a reported basis versus $653 million in Q3 of 2025, a year-over-year increase of 0.5%. On a currency-neutral basis, this represents 0.7% year-over-year increase. Life Science sales in the third quarter of 2026 were $255 million, a decrease of 2.8% compared to Q3 of 2025 on a reported basis and a 2.4% decrease on a currency-neutral basis. This was primarily driven by lower process chromatography sales and ongoing challenges in the academic research market, partially offset by increased ddPCR instrument sales.

Excluding process chromatography, Life Science currency-neutral sales increased 2.5%. Currency-neutral sales decreased in the Americas, partially offset by increased sales in EMEA and Asia Pacific and Greater China. Our ddPCR portfolio posted 7% currency-neutral growth in the quarter with instrument revenue growing more than 20% year-over-year. Clinical Diagnostic sales in the third quarter of 2026 were approximately $402 million compared to $391 million in Q3 of 2025, an increase of 2.7% on a reported basis and 2.8% on a currency-neutral basis. Growth was driven by timing of orders and quality systems in diabetes products. Regionally, growth came from Americas and Asia Pacific.

Turning to gross margin. Consolidated gross margin was 50.1% for the third quarter of '26, compared to 52.6% in Q3 of '25. The year-over-year decline primarily reflects charges associated with our restructuring program. On a non-GAAP basis, third quarter gross margin was 54.5% versus 53.5% in the year ago period, and improved sequentially from 53.9% in the second quarter. SG&A expense for the third quarter of 2026 was $257 million, or 39.2% of sales, compared to $207 million or 31.7% of sales in Q3 of 25%. The increase in SG&A expense was primarily due to higher restructuring costs. Third quarter non-GAAP SG&A expense was $214 million or 32.6% of sales versus $202 million or 31% of sales in the year ago period.

Research and development expense for the third quarter of 2026 was $71 million or 10.9% of sales, equal to the third quarter of the prior year. Third quarter non-GAAP R&D expense was $60 million versus $70 million in the year ago period. The decrease in R&D largely reflects focused management and R&D programs and a prior year milestone payment that did not repeat. During the quarter, we also recorded a noncash impairment of approximately $50 million related to purchased intangible assets in the Life Science segment. The charge reflects the portfolio decisions we are making to prioritize our return on investments.

Q3 GAAP operating loss was approximately $50 million compared to operating income of approximately $65 million in Q3 of 2025. On a non-GAAP basis, third quarter operating margin was 12.8% compared to 11.8% in Q3 of 2025, and this represents a sequential improvement from 12.5% in the second quarter of '26. Third quarter 2026 non-GAAP net income, which excludes the impact of the change in equity value [indiscernible] shares was $72 million or $2.65 diluted earnings per share versus $61 million or $2.26 diluted earnings per share for Q3 of 2025.

For full details on the balance sheet, cash flow, tax and Sartorius valuation, please refer to our earnings presentation, press release and 10-Q filed today, all available on our Investor Relations website.

Moving on to our non-GAAP guidance for '26. We are reaffirming our guidance of full year '26 currency-neutral revenue growth between minus 3% and plus 0.5%. We expect full year growth to be approximately at the midpoint of this range. We expect Life Science segments currency-neutral revenue growth to be between minus 3% and minus 1% and the Clinical Diagnostics segment's currency-neutral revenue growth to be between minus 3% and plus 1%. We expect a sequential revenue ramp from Q3 to Q4, up 5% to 6% on a reported basis, in line with our typical seasonality.

Included in this guide is continued softness in the academic and government market and a favorable comparison for process chromatography. We expect full year non-GAAP gross margin to be in the upper half of the guidance range of between 53% and 54%. We expect a sequential decline in the fourth quarter due to product mix shifting more toward instruments, the expected sequential decline in process chromatography revenue and higher fuel prices, which are expected to continue into '27. In the fourth quarter, we expect SG&A to be flat to Q3 and a $3 million sequential step-up in R&D support continued innovation.

We're also modeling approximately $40 million of depreciation and amortization in the quarter. We expect full year non-GAAP operating margin to be in the upper half of the guidance range of between 10% and 12%. We are reaffirming our 2026 full year free cash flow estimate to be in the range of approximately $290 million to $340 million. Through 9 months, we've generated $210 million in the fourth quarter is seasonally our strongest.

Our third quarter results do not include any benefit from tariff refunds. In our year-end results, we expect to recognize any tariff refunds that we receive. As a reminder, we did not pass any tariff-related surcharges to our customers, instead absorbing them in our cost of goods sold. As a result, we will not need to test any of the refunded amounts to our customers. Finally, any tariff refunds will be recognized on a GAAP basis only, and as such, will be excluded from our non-GAAP results. We continue to firmly believe that Bio-Rad is capable of delivering operating margins above 20%, and we are not satisfied with the gap between our current performance and that potential.

We are committed to delivering stronger profitability while investing in innovation and sustainable growth, and we look forward to sharing further updates as that work progresses.

I'll now turn the call over to Norman.

Norman Schwartz

Thank you, Roop. Just maybe a few comments on [indiscernible] as we wrap up on products, in 2024, as you may remember, we began refocusing our product development efforts on market segments where we're best positioned to compete. Innovation has always been fundamental to Bio-Rad. And I think the products that Jon mentioned are good examples of that work to date. In today's challenging markets, delivering differentiated products that meet customer needs, I think it's certainly more important than ever.

So next, over the past 12 months, our Board has been evaluating its composition and the mix of experience that will really best support Bio-Rad's future. We believe would benefit from additional perspectives and broader operational experience in both life science tools and in diagnostics. And with that in mind, we have been actively evaluating candidates to expand our Board. We would expect to be able to share updates with you in the near future on this project.

And maybe finally, with regard to Elliott Management. I guess I would say our dialogue continues to be active and productive, and we believe we're broadly aligned on the objectives. So as we move forward, I'm certainly encouraged by the progress we're making and excited about what's ahead.

So maybe with that, operator, we'll open up the line for questions.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from Dan Leonard with RBC Capital Markets.

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Dan Leonard

To start off, I'm just trying to get a better sense of where your head's at in framing 2027. I think there were -- I counted on 3 or 4 discrete lingering headwinds you reminded that could drag into 2027. But I'm not really sure how to interpret what your thinking is for the appropriate starting point in aggregate on revenue to clarify?

Roop Lakkaraju

Okay. This is Roop, again. Good to have you on the call. So from a revenue standpoint, I think 1 of the things we're trying to balance here is to give a perspective of the end markets that we're dealing with and how we're navigating through that with the understanding that ultimately as we continue to drive innovation and some of the portfolio management that we've been doing is to get back to growth. And we think that 2027 and obviously, it's a little bit early right now with this third quarter call, and we'll lay out '27's guidance at the year-end call, but we'll be focused on driving towards positive growth rate in '27, and as part of that, obviously, driving further margin expansion in '27 as we move forward.

So hopefully, that helps you the bread crumbs that we put into the script to give you a sense of the end market dynamics we're dealing with, it's simply to help frame our understanding and what we're dealing with, with our portfolio and our customer set.

Dan Leonard

Okay. So the message is growth but not fully normalized given the bread crumbs that you have to contend with?

Roop Lakkaraju

That's right.

Dan Leonard

Okay. And then just specifically on Droplet Digital, -- you've had a number of quarters in a row with really strong instrumentation growth. What's your degree of conviction that, that can continue as opposed to any caution that you're going to start cycling up against more challenging comparisons?

Jonathan DiVincenzo

Dan, Jon DiVincenzo. Thanks for the question. As we model this out, first of all, we reflect on, I don't know, the last year that the new portfolio has been in the marketplace. And it's very positive to see a number of new customers. We're expanding kind of the available market that we're serving. And there's a lot of positivity there. We're going to continue to have these wins. I can't project it's going to be 20% continuity. As you said, we come up against some more difficult comps, but even in that challenging academic environment, customers are still choosing to invest in the platform. They may not be at full utilization of the platform yet, but it will be an important part of their research moving forward. So we continue to believe it's going to be an important part of our growth in the near to midterm.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Jack Meehan with Operon Research.

Jack Meehan

Wanted to talk about the Diagnostics business a little bit more. You mentioned some of the expectations around the China region. I was wondering if you could just talk about how the region performed in the quarter and like how you think the updates are going to -- how exactly is that impacting the business or ability to compete in the market?

Roop Lakkaraju

So Jack, maybe I'll start out. This is Roop. So first, in terms of the dynamics, we've had some -- China was a little bit stronger for us in the quarter as a discrete quarter for the third quarter. largely driven by order timing around quality control, some process chromatography, these sort of things, which is obviously positive to see. I think from an overall China dynamic, when you speak about the guidelines that have just come out, we think overall that there -- and we kind of said this within the prepared remarks, there is some single-digit million impact into '27, we think obviously, we're doing the final assessments. Those guidelines are getting rolled out. So there's a little bit yet to come potentially.

But overall, we don't think it's overly material, but there is some impact. I think from an overall China the ex perspective [indiscernible] continues to be strong there, and we continue to execute within the market overall.

Jack Meehan

Great. Okay. And then on the Life Science side, kind of ex digital PCR, ex process chromatography, remainder of the Life Science business. I was wondering if you could just talk about how you see demand trends across academic and pharma at the moment? And building off that, just whether you're seeing any indications of demand related to AI-related experiment?

Jonathan DiVincenzo

Yes, Jack, Jon DiVincenzo. Good questions there. So we -- although we have some optimism on academic, it still is not where you normally would think the academic spending would go on a kind of a run rate basis and all the activity in the labs. We'll see what happens with the midterm election, if that is any positive out of tailwind into '27 and '28. In biopharma, we see kind of an improved environment. Initially, it was kind of the later stages of the large pharma and biotech customers, but it's seen moving over to more discovery role. I think when it comes to AI, overall, we believe that's a positive for demand for our portfolio.

We are very close to our customers, particularly customers that are deploying AI and transitioning from in silico modeling to the wet lab work and how do we ensure that we're supporting that transition. Overall, we just think it's going to be meaning more productive testing in the lab, more utilization of reagents in our products and are quite optimistic about the impact on the market for both academic as well as drug discovery.

Jack Meehan

Great. And 1 last question is just on capital deployment. It looks like the buyback was a little muted in the quarter. Can you just talk about how you think about allocating capital? And then I would be remiss not to ask about just any way you thought on sort of core strategy monetize in...

Jonathan DiVincenzo

Jack, you trailed off at the end there. Would you mind just kind of restating the tail end of year? I heard the capital allocation and the buyback piece. Was there an incremental piece you mentioned as well?

Jack Meehan

Yes, sorry. The just latest thoughts on the Sartorius stake and ability to monetize that.

Jonathan DiVincenzo

Got it. So maybe I'll start with the Sartorius stake. Our point of view on that hasn't changed. It's a monetizable asset. And if there is a potential scenario in which we think it would make sense to monetize it, we would do so. And that's within our own rights to do so. So that's kind of Sartorius. So same as before, no change in comments there. As it relates to capital allocation, obviously, we talk about kind of 3 significant areas of capital allocation. One is investing back in the business from a CapEx standpoint. We continue to do that, especially from innovation capability. The second is share repurchases, which we have done.

But we've also indicated that we'd be opportunistic with those share repurchases and therefore, not necessarily systemic in every quarter. And with all that said, we still feel like we're undervalued and from an intrinsic value standpoint, there's opportunity for value creation from a share price standpoint, but we will continue to look at it more opportunistically versus systemic, if you will.

The final piece is M&A. And as we've stated very clearly, we're not seeking to do transformative deals. However, we are focused on finding deals of some scale and size. And as we've said in prior earnings calls, anywhere from $100 million to $500 million of revenue, whether it's in the DX space or the life sciences tool space, would be interesting to us. But what's critical is it provides value differentiation for our customers, gives us the ability to drive top line growth as [indiscernible] has done, and allows us to expand margins and drive working capital efficiency.

So we'll continue to have that kind of balanced capital allocation outlook, but any discrete lack of share repurchases in a quarter or not shouldn't be read in any direction other than we'll continue to balance these different areas quarter-to-quarter.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Your next question comes from Tycho Peterson with Jefferies.

Unknown Analyst

This is Chad on for Tycho. Could you give us an update on where you are against the $80 million to $90 million restructuring program and if the $30 million to $35 million net realized savings is still the right ballpark for 2027.

Roop Lakkaraju

Jack, this is Roop. I'll jump into that. We are executing on the restructuring plan that we announced in the Q2 call. So that is proceeding. The $30 million, $35 million is still intact in terms of savings that we expect to see. And just as a reminder to you in the market. That really is into 2028. So the actions will take hold throughout the latter part of '26 and throughout '27. And as such, the full realization of that 30% to 35% will really be in full effect starting in '28.

Unknown Analyst

And then on Diagnostics, you called out upside in quality control and diabetes. Can you just give us a refreshed sense of how big and material these businesses are and kind of the latest trends you're seeing, how sustainable do you think they are?

Roop Lakkaraju

Yes. I mean from a China standpoint, and Jack, I think you were referring to China specifically or...

Unknown Analyst

Quality control and diabetes within diagnostics.

Roop Lakkaraju

Okay. So we haven't actually quantified those specific areas. With that said, we have said and obviously, diagnostics is about 61% of our total revenue, roughly at the enterprise level. Quality Controls is the largest franchise that we have within diagnostics. We're a market leader there, and we continue to see strength on a global basis across all regions.

From a diabetes standpoint, we've seen strength as we've gone throughout 2026. We're very pleased with that, and that's broad-based across various regions around the world, and we continue to focus on identifying those growth opportunities, both in QC diabetes, but other parts of our diagnostics portfolio as well.

Operator

There are no further questions at this time. I would like to turn the call back over to Ruben Argueta for any closing remarks.

Ruben Argueta

Thank you again for joining us today. Also, a quick reminder that we will be attending the UBS Global Healthcare Conference next week and hope to connect with many of you there. Goodbye.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's call. Thank you all for joining, and you may now disconnect.