Wall Street Zen Downgrades QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) to Sell

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on QDEL. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of QuidelOrtho from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $35.00 to $12.50 in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of QuidelOrtho from $30.00 to $13.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $12.00 price target on shares of QuidelOrtho in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of QuidelOrtho from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $14.88.

QuidelOrtho Price Performance

NASDAQ QDEL opened at $13.67 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $932.16 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.77 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33. The company has a 50 day moving average of $12.80 and a 200-day moving average of $20.81. QuidelOrtho has a 1-year low of $9.92 and a 1-year high of $35.58.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.41). The company had revenue of $619.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $665.23 million. QuidelOrtho had a positive return on equity of 4.25% and a negative net margin of 45.57%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.74 earnings per share. QuidelOrtho has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.800-2.000 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that QuidelOrtho will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Aristotle Capital Boston LLC lifted its stake in QuidelOrtho by 62.4% in the 3rd quarter. Aristotle Capital Boston LLC now owns 382,389 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,261,000 after purchasing an additional 146,956 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho by 10.4% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,115,557 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,303,000 after buying an additional 199,909 shares during the last quarter. Phocas Financial Corp. grew its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho by 45.7% during the fourth quarter. Phocas Financial Corp. now owns 170,018 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,856,000 after buying an additional 53,353 shares during the last quarter. Tejara Capital Ltd increased its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 97.2% during the fourth quarter. Tejara Capital Ltd now owns 208,327 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,950,000 after buying an additional 102,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rice Hall James & Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 222.0% during the fourth quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC now owns 833,791 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,813,000 after buying an additional 574,877 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.00% of the company’s stock.

About QuidelOrtho

QuidelOrtho is a global diagnostics company formed through the merger of Quidel Corporation and Ortho Clinical Diagnostics. The combined entity develops, manufactures and markets a broad portfolio of rapid and high-throughput diagnostic solutions across immunoassay, molecular diagnostics and transfusion medicine. Its offerings span point-of-care platforms for acute care testing as well as large-scale automated systems designed for clinical laboratories and blood banks.

The company’s product range includes rapid antigen and antibody tests for infectious diseases, molecular assays utilizing nucleic acid amplification technology, and integrated immunodiagnostic analyzers.