Piper Jaffray analyst William Quirk says his channel checks found 15 Sequels placed in Q2, suggesting Pacific Biosciences had a sequential increase in placements, consistent with management's comments on the Q1 call and slightly ahead of his expectations. The company's Q2 appears to be shaping up as a good quarter ahead of its 2019 introduction of the 8M feature chip, Quirk tells investors in a research note. The analyst is "encouraged" with Pacific's progress, but keeps a Neutral rating on the shares with a $3.25 price target citing the "complex competitive dynamics."