QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) Downgraded to “Strong Sell” Rating by Zacks Research

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) was downgraded by investment analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on QDEL. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $12.00 price target on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research report on Friday, July 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of QuidelOrtho from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of QuidelOrtho from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $13.62.

QuidelOrtho Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:QDEL opened at $15.09 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $15.80 and its 200 day moving average is $16.99. The company has a market cap of $1.03 billion, a PE ratio of -0.98 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 0.76. QuidelOrtho has a 1 year low of $9.92 and a 1 year high of $35.58.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.05) by $0.18. QuidelOrtho had a positive return on equity of 4.88% and a negative net margin of 39.20%.The firm had revenue of $630.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $618.72 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.12 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. QuidelOrtho has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.650-0.900 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that QuidelOrtho will post 0.75 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On QuidelOrtho

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in QDEL. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in QuidelOrtho by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,832,098 shares of the company’s stock valued at $337,925,000 after buying an additional 819,908 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of QuidelOrtho in the 2nd quarter worth about $196,212,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of QuidelOrtho by 19.4% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,470,656 shares of the company’s stock worth $99,122,000 after buying an additional 563,893 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,048,768 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,085,000 after acquiring an additional 212,481 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,704,355 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,236,000 after acquiring an additional 35,616 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.00% of the company’s stock.

QuidelOrtho Company Profile

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.