Wall Street Zen Upgrades QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) to Hold

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Sunday.

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

QuidelOrtho Stock Up 2.0%

NASDAQ:QDEL opened at $13.79 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $12.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $20.31. QuidelOrtho has a 52-week low of $9.92 and a 52-week high of $35.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.43. The company has a market cap of $940.34 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.77 and a beta of 0.77.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in QDEL. Aristotle Capital Boston LLC raised its position in shares of QuidelOrtho by 62.4% during the third quarter. Aristotle Capital Boston LLC now owns 382,389 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,261,000 after purchasing an additional 146,956 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of QuidelOrtho by 10.4% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,115,557 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,303,000 after purchasing an additional 199,909 shares during the period. Phocas Financial Corp. grew its position in shares of QuidelOrtho by 45.7% in the 4th quarter. Phocas Financial Corp. now owns 170,018 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,856,000 after purchasing an additional 53,353 shares during the period. Tejara Capital Ltd increased its stake in QuidelOrtho by 97.2% during the 4th quarter. Tejara Capital Ltd now owns 208,327 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,950,000 after purchasing an additional 102,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rice Hall James & Associates LLC increased its stake in QuidelOrtho by 222.0% during the 4th quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC now owns 833,791 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,813,000 after purchasing an additional 574,877 shares in the last quarter. 99.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.