What Happened?
Shares of healthcare diagnostics company QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ: QDEL) fell 21.3% in the afternoon session after the company slashed its full-year revenue and earnings forecast, overshadowing a second-quarter earnings beat.
For the second quarter, QuidelOrtho reported revenue of $630.9 million and adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.13, surpassing Wall Street's expectations. However, the company significantly lowered its outlook for the full year. It now expects revenue to be between $2.52 billion and $2.6 billion, with the midpoint falling 5.4% below analyst estimates. Similarly, the adjusted EPS guidance was cut to a range of $0.65 to $0.90 per share.
The sharply reduced forecast signaled to investors that future challenges outweighed the strong quarterly performance, leading to a significant sell-off in the stock.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
QuidelOrtho’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 51 moves greater than 5% over the last year. But moves this big are rare even for QuidelOrtho and indicate this news significantly impacted the market’s perception of the business.
The biggest move we wrote about over the last year was about 1 month ago when the stock gained 34.7% on the news that reports revealed that the company is considering the sale of its point-of-care testing business for about $1.5 billion. According to reports, QuidelOrtho is evaluating bids from private equity firms for the unit, which is known for its rapid COVID-19 antigen tests. The potential sale is intended to help reduce the company's $3.8 billion debt burden, which largely stems from its 2022 acquisition of Ortho Clinical Diagnostics. An analyst at Jefferies viewed a potential sale as a net positive for the company, though the firm is awaiting final details. The stock's significant jump followed the news breaking over the weekend.
QuidelOrtho is down 56% since the beginning of the year, and at $12.66 per share, it is trading 64.2% below its 52-week high of $35.38 from January 2026. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of QuidelOrtho’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at only $97.46.
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