IDEXX Laboratories earnings: results of 2 November 2026

IDEXX Laboratories, which makes tests and lab machines for vets, reported its third quarter of 2026 on 2 November. Sales rose about 10%, driven by supplies that clinics buy again and again. Profit per share grew faster than sales, and cash came in well ahead of profit. The company raised its sales and earnings forecasts for the year but now expects a slightly lower share of sales left as operating profit, which it puts down to an acquisition. ¹

Against what analysts expected

On its own comparable basis, IDEXX Laboratories earned $3.96 a share, above the $3.71 average forecast of analysts listed on Nasdaq's earnings calendar; the reported $4.01 was above it as well. ¹²

The strong points

• Sales rose about 10% on a year ago, and almost none of that came from currency moves or acquisitions. ¹
• On the company's own comparable basis, which strips out currency and a tax item, earnings per share rose 22% to $3.96. ¹
• Profit is turning fully into cash: free cash flow, the cash left after running and investing in the business, was about 133% of net income in the quarter. ¹

The weak points

• Not every product line grew: instrument sales were flat and rapid test sales rose only 0.6%. ¹
• Part of the jump in cash came from far less money being tied up in unpaid bills and stock than a year earlier, not only from stronger earnings. ¹

What the company expects

• The company raised its 2026 earnings per share forecast to $14.96 - $15.16, and it also raised its sales forecast for the year. ¹
• It now expects the share of sales left as operating profit to be 32.1% - 32.3% for the year, lower than it expected before, and it puts this down to costs of its acquisition. ¹

Our verdict on the quarter

A very strong report. Sales and profit grew solidly, earnings came in above what analysts expected, and the company raised its sales and earnings forecasts for the year, with only a slightly lower margin forecast, tied to an acquisition, holding it back.

The results as published

• The results release itself
• The filing it came with (SEC)
• The previous results, for what it forecast then

Notes

1. IDEXX Laboratories's results release, 2 November 2026: sec.gov. ↩
2. Nasdaq's earnings calendar, 2 November 2026. ↩