AtriCure (NASDAQ:ATRC) reported first-quarter financial results on Tuesday. The transcript from the company’s first-quarter earnings call has been provided below.
This content is powered by Benzinga APIs. For comprehensive financial data and transcripts, visit https://www.benzinga.com/apis/.
Access the full call at https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/hzsihwcq/
Summary
AtriCure reported a strong start to 2026 with worldwide revenue of $141.2 million in Q1, marking a 14.3% year-over-year growth, driven by increased adoption of new products in the U.S.
The company’s Box NOAF clinical trial is progressing significantly ahead of schedule, with enrollment expected to be completed by the end of the year, nearly one year ahead of plan.
First quarter adjusted EBITDA was $17.1 million, a 95% increase compared to Q1 2025, with a net income of approximately $100,000 compared to a net loss in the previous year.
Pain management led portfolio growth with a 28% increase, driven by the Cryosphere Max probe, and the company expects continued growth in this segment.
AtriCure reiterated its 2026 revenue guidance of $600 million to $610 million, reflecting growth of 12% to 14% over 2025, and expects adjusted EBITDA of $80 million to $82 million.
Full Transcript
OPERATOR
Good afternoon and welcome to AtriCare’s first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. This call is being recorded for replay purposes and at this time all participants are in listen only mode. We will be facilitating a question and answer session following prepared remarks from AtriCure’s management. I would now like to turn the call over to Marisa Peisch from the Gil Martin Group for a few introductory comments.
Marisa Peisch
Great. Thank you. By now you should have received a copy of the earnings press release. If you have not received a copy, please call 513-644-4484 to have one emailed to you. Before we begin today, let me remind you that the Company’s remarks include forward looking statements Forward looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond AtriCure’s control, including risks and uncertainties described from time to time in AtriCure’s SEC filings. These statements include, but are not limited to, financial expectations and guidance expectations regarding the potential market opportunity for AtriCure’s franchises and growth initiatives, future product approvals and clearances, competition reimbursement and clinical trial enrollment and outcomes. AtriCure’s results may differ materially from those projected. AtriCuree undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward looking statements. Additionally, we refer to non GAAP financial measures, specifically constant currency revenue, adjusted EBITDA and adjusted loss per share. A reconciliation of these non GAAP financial measures with the most directly comparable GAAP measures is included in our press release which is available on our website. And with that I would like to turn the call over to Mike Carroll, President and Chief Executive Officer.
Mike Carroll (President and Chief Executive Officer)
Great. Good afternoon everyone and welcome to our call. AtriCure is off to a strong start in 2026 with worldwide revenue of $140 million in the first quarter reflecting 14% growth year over year. We are building on the momentum we established in 2025 from new product launches with this quarter marking an acceleration in our worldwide growth rate from the preceding quarter and comparable quarter last year. Fueling this acceleration is our U.S. business which drove approximately 15% in the quarter from expanding adoption of AtriClip Flex Mini and AtriClip Pro Mini devices, Cryosphere Max Probe and continued strength from our encompass Clamp. In addition, we generated $17 million in adjusted EBITDA, nearly double the first quarter of last year. Our results this quarter once again demonstrate our ability to deliver durable double digit revenue growth and expand profitability. Beyond our financial results. We have made exceptional progress in our Boxx No AF clinical trial since initiating trial enrollment in the fourth quarter of last year we have enrolled approximately 300 total patients to date in this 960 patient randomized control trial. We are tracking well ahead of our original timeline and now expect complete enrollment around the end of this year, nearly one year ahead of plan. The pace of enrollment in this trial reflects an extremely high level of engagement from surgeons who experience firsthand the impact postoperative afib has on their patients. As a reminder, up to half of cardiac surgery patients without pre existing AFIB will develop postoperative afib, which is the most common complication of cardiac surgery. Because there is no established treatment today, postoperative afib is a substantial burden on the healthcare spending with estimates exceeding $2 billion annually in the US alone. We are confident that our Boxx No AF clinical trial utilizing our Encompass Clamp and the AtriClip device has the potential to meaningfully change treatment outcomes for this patient population and address the significant unmet clinical need. Boxx No AF is also highly complementary to our LEAPS clinical trial studying stroke reduction benefit of left atrial appendage management in cardiac surgery patients without atrial fibrillation. We expect both of our landmark clinical trials to generate robust clinical evidence in support of preventative treatments for cardiac surgery patients, unlocking a massive global market opportunity for AtriCure while establishing new standards of care in cardiac surgery. We at AtriCure are well positioned to realize these significant catalysts for our business in the coming years. Now on to updates covering franchise performance. In the first quarter, pain management once again led our portfolio growth, increasing 28% year over year. The CryoSphere Max Max probe continues to be the primary driver of growth, contributing roughly 70% of our pain management sales this quarter. Surgeons across both new and existing accounts recognize the significant time savings and clinical effectiveness it provides leading to more patients having their post operative pain managed effectively. Building on our legacy of innovation. We are also pleased that our Cryo XT probe for amputation procedures is beginning to gain traction. We continue to receive outstanding feedback from each new surgeon that uses this device and through our registries are capturing clinical outcomes for this therapy. We are still in the early innings for CryoXD for the CryoXT therapy development and adoption. However, we remain confident in CryoXD contributing more meaningfully as we move to the back half of of 2026 within our cardiac ablation franchises worldwide. Open ablation revenue grew 15% in the first quarter. Led by steady adoption of Encompass Clamp in the United States and Europe. Encompass is delivering growth from both new and existing accounts even as we approach the four year anniversary of our US full market launch. As mentioned in our fourth quarter earnings call, our efforts to drive treatment of AFIB and cardiac surgery patients was validated with a recent announcement from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons annual meeting including concomitant AFIB treatment as a quality metric. There is strong precedent for the impact of quality metrics in cardiac surgery and we believe this change will support increased adoption for surgical AFIB ablation and appendage management, serving as a durable tailwind for growth for years ahead. Our minimally invasive ablation franchise continued to face headwinds in the first quarter. We believe there’s a role for hybrid therapy in the current and future treatment landscape and remain committed to providing a solution for the unmet need for patients with long standing persistent afib. Finally, turning to our appendage management franchise, which saw 16% growth worldwide driven by both our open and minimally invasive appendage management products, our open left atrial appendage management business benefited from strong adoption of AtriClip Flex Mini in the United States where we exited the quarter with Flex mini contributing approximately 40% of our open appendage management revenue. More importantly, we believe our Flex Mini device has been impactful in driving share gains in this market. Surgeons using our or our trialing competitive devices are impressed by the small form factor of AtriClip Flex Mini along with robust clinical evidence and superior product performance of our Atriclip devices in minimally invasive procedures. AtriClip AtriClip Pro Mini is building upon that adoption in the US providing a pricing uplift that offsets pressure of our hybrid AF therapy procedure volumes. It remains clear that differentiated innovation plays an important role in maintaining our position as the leader in appendage management and cardiac surgery and we continue to prioritize investments in this platform in our international markets. We are growing adoption across our legacy left atrial appendage management devices. Following the first quarter, we received CE mark under EU MDR in Europe for both Atriclip Flex Mini and AtriClip Pro Mini devices and expect to launch both products in Europe later this year. New product launches in Europe, the United States, China and Japan, coupled with the future of LEAP’s clinical trial outcomes provide a long Runway for growth in our appendage management franchise. In closing, the performance we delivered this quarter underscores the power of of our innovation and focus on execution. While the rapid progress in our Boxx No AF clinical trial reinforces the significant opportunity ahead at ATRI Care, we remain committed to advancing standards of care, scaling responsibly and delivering durable growth with improving profitability for our shareholders and with that I’ll turn the call over to Angie Weirich, our Chief Financial Officer.
Angie Weirich (Chief Financial Officer)
Angie thanks, Mike. worldwide revenue for the first quarter of 2026 was $141.2 million, up 14.3% on a reported basis and 12.8% on a constant currency basis versus the first quarter of 2025. Our performance reflects substantial growth driven by the continued adoption of key new products in the United States and many regions throughout the world. On a sequential basis, worldwide revenue increased approximately 1% compared to the fourth quarter 2025. First quarter 2026, US revenue was $116.2 million, a 14.9% increase from the first quarter of 2025. Open ablation product sales grew 17.3% to $39.1 million, fueled by the strong and sustained adoption of our Encompass Clamp across new and existing accounts. U.S. sales of appendage management products were $48.4 million, up 14.9% over the first quarter of 2025, driven primarily by increasing adoption of our Atriclip Flex Mini and Pro mini devices. US mis ablation sales were $6.4 million, a decline of approximately 25% over the first quarter of 2025. And finally, US pain management sales were $22.4 million, up 29.5% over the first quarter of 2025, led by the Cryosphere Max probe, which contributed approximately 70% of pain management sales in the quarter, driving increased adoption in both thoracic and stronotomy procedures. International revenue totaled $25 million for the first quarter of 2026, up 11.5% on a reported basis and up 3.3% on a constant currency basis as compared to the first quarter of 2025. European sales were $16.1 million, up 13.2%. In Asia Pacific and other international market sales were $8.9 million, up 8.4%. International growth was tempered by continued uncertainty in the UK as well as lower distributor sales in Asia. Offsetting these headwinds, we saw significant growth across franchises and other major geographies, largely driven by our direct markets. Gross margin for the first quarter of 2026 was 77.4%, up 246 basis points from the first quarter of 2025. The increase was driven primarily by favorable product and geographic mix, with strong US Performance, propelled by our new product launches and adoption. Transitioning to operating expenses for the quarter, total operating expenses increased $10.2 million, or 10.3%, from $98.6 million in the first quarter of 2025 to $108.8 million in the first quarter of 2026. Rapid enrollment in our BoxX No AF clinical trial which offsets a decrease in LEAPS clinical trial costs along with increased headcount focused on product development initiatives resulted in a 7.6% increase in research and development expense from the first quarter of 2025. SG and A expense increased 11.2% from the first quarter of 2025 as we continue to support growth while driving leverage across the organization. Completing the P&L first quarter 2026 adjusted EBITDA was $17.1 million compared to $8.8 million for the first quarter of 2025, representing a 95% increase. We recorded net income of approximately $100,000 compared to a net loss of $6.7 million in the first quarter of 2025. Earnings per share and adjusted earnings per share were both breakeven at zero cents compared to a loss per share and adjusted loss per share of $0.14 in the first quarter of 2025. Our results reflect a balanced approach to allocating capital towards area we believe will sustain and accelerate growth, all while continuing to improve profitability. Now turning to our balance sheet, we ended the first quarter with approximately $146 million in cash and investments. Cash burn for the quarter was slightly improved from the first quarter of 2025 and reflects our normal pattern of cash usage driven by share vesting, variable compensation and operational needs. As we move through the remainder of the year, we expect positive cash flow resulting in full year cash generation that is moderately higher than 2025. Our balance sheet remains healthy and supports both current operations and our investment in strategic initiatives that we believe will drive long term value creation. And now onto our outlook for 2026. We are reiterating our expectations for full year revenue of $600 million to $610 million reflecting growth of approximately 12 to 14% over full year 2025 results Consistent with our first quarter results, we expect performance over the remainder of the year to be driven by our pain management, appendage management and open ablation franchises and partially offset by continuation of headwinds …
This post was originally published here
