QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) Stock Price Up 11.4% – Still a Buy?

QuidelOrtho Corporation (NASDAQ:QDEL)’s stock price shot up 11.4% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $13.17 and last traded at $13.5970. 181,052 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 90% from the average session volume of 1,810,355 shares. The stock had previously closed at $12.21.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on QDEL. Jefferies Financial Group cut 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 research report on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Zacks Research upgraded QuidelOrtho from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Wall Street Zen lowered QuidelOrtho from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 20th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on QuidelOrtho from $30.00 to $13.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, QuidelOrtho presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $14.88.

QuidelOrtho Stock Up 11.1%

The company’s fifty day moving average price is $12.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $20.45. The stock has a market cap of $925.13 million, a P/E ratio of -0.76 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.43.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last issued its quarterly 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). QuidelOrtho had a negative net margin of 45.57% and a positive return on equity of 4.25%. The firm had revenue of $619.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $665.23 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.74 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. QuidelOrtho has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.800-2.000 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that QuidelOrtho Corporation will post 1.83 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On QuidelOrtho

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho by 3,691.7% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 910 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 886 shares during the period. Camelot Portfolios LLC bought a new stake in QuidelOrtho during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in QuidelOrtho by 50.3% during the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,082 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 362 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its position in QuidelOrtho by 322.2% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,330 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 1,015 shares during the period. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in QuidelOrtho in the 3rd quarter valued at about $63,000. 99.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.