Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc.’s PACB shares have declined 10.8% on Apr 30 following its first-quarter 2021 earnings release.The company reported first-quarter 2021 adjusted loss per share of 18 cents, wider than the year-ago quarter’s adjusted loss of 16 cents. However, the bottom line is narrower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 45 cents per share.RevenuesFor the quarter, revenues totaled $28.9 million, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by a marginal 1.7%. However, the figure rose 86% from the year-ago quarter’s tally.Segmental AnalysisProduct Revenues amounted to $25.3 million, up 105.7% from the prior-year quarter.Service and Other Revenues came in at $3.7 million, up 12.1% year over year.MarginsGross profit in the first quarter was $12.9 million, up 13.8% year over year. Gross margin was 44.8% of total revenues, expanding 274 basis points.Operating expenses totaled $46.7 million, up 31.9% year over year.Operating loss came in at $33.7 million, wider than the year-ago quarter’s loss of $23.9 million. Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. Quote Cash PositionThe company exited the first quarter of 2021 with cash, cash equivalents and investments excluding restricted cash of $1.16 billion compared with $318.8 million at the end of the fourth quarter of 2020.Our TakePacific Biosciences ended the first quarter of 2021 on a mixed note. Nonetheless, the company saw an increase in both its Product, and Service and other revenues during the quarter. It continues to gain from its flagship Sequel system. It also deployed Sequel IIe systems in the quarter at LabCorp to scale up their capabilities of sequencing SARS-CoV-2.The recent launch of the Sequel IIe System and collaboration with Asuragen continue to buoy optimism on the stock. It recently inked a multi-year collaboration deal with Invitae Corporation to start developing a production-scale high-throughput sequencing platform, utilizing the power of its highly accurate HiFi sequencing for widening the scope of Invitae’s whole genome testing capabilities. Gross margin expansion was another plus.However, Pacific Biosciences saw a year-over-year wider operating loss in the quarter.Zacks Rank and Key PicksPacific Biosciences currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the broader medical space are Boston Scientific Corporation BSX, Merit Medical Systems MMSI and HCA Healthcare, Inc. HCA, each currently carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.Boston Scientific posted adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of 37 cents for the first quarter of 2021, which exceeded the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 23.3%. Revenues of $2.75 billion in the first quarter also exceeded the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 5.3%.Merit Medical’s first-quarter 2021 adjusted EPS of 52 cents beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 37 cents by 40.5%. For the quarter, the company reported worldwide revenues of $248.9 million, which also surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 7.7%.HCA Healthcare reported first-quarter 2021 adjusted EPS of $4.14, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 23.6%. Net revenues of $14 billion too exceeded the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 2.2%.Breakout Biotech Stocks with Triple-Digit Profit PotentialThe biotech sector is projected to surge beyond $775 billion by 2024 as scientists develop treatments for thousands of diseases. They’re also finding ways to edit the human genome to literally erase our vulnerability to these diseases.Zacks has just released Century of Biology: 7 Biotech Stocks to Buy Right Now to help investors profit from 7 stocks poised for outperformance. Our recent biotech recommendations have produced gains of +50%, +83% and +164% in as little as 2 months. The stocks in this report could perform even better.See these 7 breakthrough stocks now>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (MMSI): Free Stock Analysis Report Boston Scientific Corporation (BSX): Free Stock Analysis Report HCA Healthcare, Inc. (HCA): Free Stock Analysis Report Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. (PACB): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research