Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Quidel (QDEL) to Report Q3 Earnings: What's in the Cards?

Read MoreHide Full Article

Quidel Corporation’s (QDEL - Free Report) third-quarter fiscal 2020 results are scheduled to release on Oct 29, after the closing bell. In the last reported quarter, the company delivered earnings surprise of 66.1%. Further, it beat estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 26.1%.

Q3 Estimates

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal third-quarter earnings is pegged at $4.58, suggesting a significant improvement from the year-ago quarter. The same for revenues stands at $476.1 million, indicating growth of 276.4% from the year-ago reported figure.

Factors to Note

Quidel is likely to have witnessed revenue growth in the fiscal third quarter courtesy of higher demand of its COVID-19 products. In fact, per the preliminary announcement, the company projects third-quarter fiscal 2020 revenues between $475 million and $477 million.

Solid demand for two point-of-care (PCR) assays that received Emergency Use Authorization from the FDA in March and May, and Sofia Antigen rapid PCR test, which got EUA in May, contributed to the company’s fiscal third-quarter performance.

On its fiscal second-quarter earnings call, the company announced that it has managed to partially meet the need for RT-PCR testing in high complexity labs through scaling up of manufacturing of its Lyra assay to around 500,000 tests per week. This may get reflected in the fiscal third-quarter results.

Quidel Corporation Price and EPS Surprise

Quidel Corporation Price and EPS Surprise

Quidel Corporation price-eps-surprise | Quidel Corporation Quote

A solid product pipeline, particularly with respect to COVID-19 testing, might have driven the company’s performance in the to-be-reported quarter.

Quidel has been developing multi-analyte COVID-19 test panels to aid in the diagnosis of co-infections and rule-out flu and other illnesses, and also ramp up overall test manufacturing scale.

Moreover, the company has been addressing the need for COVID-19 testing by securing its supply chain and scaling up its test manufacturing and distribution for both the molecular and rapid tests by over 100%.

These developments are likely to get reflected in the company’s fiscal third-quarter results.

Here’s What the Quantitative Model Suggests

Per our proven model, a combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the chances of an earnings beat. This is the case here as you will see below.

Earnings ESP: Quidel has an Earnings ESP of +8.14%. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Zacks Rank: The company sports a Zacks Rank #1.

Other Stocks Worth a Look

Here are some other medical stocks worth considering as these too have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter.

Stryker Corporation (SYK - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +1.66% and a Zacks Rank of 3. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (IDXX - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +0.35% and a Zacks Rank of 2.

Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. (PACB - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +15.39% and a Zacks Rank of 3.

Zacks’ 2020 Election Stock Report:

In addition to the companies you learned about above, we invite you to learn more about profiting from the upcoming presidential election. Trillions of dollars will shift into new market sectors after the votes are tallied, and investors could see significant gains. This report reveals specific stocks that could soar: 6 if Trump wins, 6 if Biden wins.

Check out the 2020 Election Stock Report >>

Published in