Pacific Biosciences of California is exploding higher today, building on momentum that began earlier this week. The stock previously saw gains of roughly 6 percent following reports that management would participate in a fireside chat at the Morgan Stanley 24th Annual Global Healthcare conference, alongside broader optimism regarding demand for its sequencing technologies. This upward trend was further supported by a contract announcement from genomics provider Sampled, which secured a five-year deal worth up to $27.1 million from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The stock is currently outperforming peers like 10x Genomics, which is seeing more modest gains.