QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) Shares Up 9% - Time to Buy?

Key Points

• Shares of QuidelOrtho jumped about 9% on Monday to roughly $15.10 intraday, with volume (~830,781 shares) about 42% below the daily average.
• Wall Street sentiment is largely negative—MarketBeat shows a consensus rating of "Reduce" with an average target of $28.25—despite the company beating quarterly EPS and revenue estimates.
• Insiders bought stock in mid‑February (director and CFO purchases at about $23–$24) and large institutions such as T. Rowe Price and Invesco materially increased positions, signaling insider and institutional accumulation.

QuidelOrtho Corporation (NASDAQ:QDEL - Get Free Report)'s share price shot up 9% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $15.07 and last traded at $15.0960. 830,781 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 42% from the average session volume of 1,438,626 shares. The stock had previously closed at $13.85.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on QDEL. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (e+)" rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. UBS Group cut their target price on QuidelOrtho from $30.00 to $17.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Zacks Research downgraded QuidelOrtho from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Wall Street Zen downgraded QuidelOrtho from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on QuidelOrtho from $23.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $28.25.

QuidelOrtho Trading Up 16.3%

The company has a market capitalization of $1.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.97 and a beta of 0.92. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $20.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $25.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.03. QuidelOrtho had a positive return on equity of 5.91% and a negative net margin of 41.46%.The company had revenue of $723.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $699.80 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.63 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that QuidelOrtho Corporation will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Matthew Strobeck bought 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $23.96 per share, for a total transaction of $239,600.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 27,775 shares of the company's stock, valued at $665,489. The trade was a 56.26% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Joseph M. Busky bought 3,370 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $23.66 per share, for a total transaction of $79,734.20. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer directly owned 10,290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $243,461.40. The trade was a 48.70% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders have purchased 23,910 shares of company stock worth $567,973 in the last three months. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted 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 purchasing an additional 819,908 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of QuidelOrtho by 19.4% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,470,656 shares of the company's stock worth $99,122,000 after purchasing an additional 563,893 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of QuidelOrtho by 14.0% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,859,455 shares of the company's stock worth $84,208,000 after purchasing an additional 350,636 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in QuidelOrtho by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,704,355 shares of the company's stock valued at $77,236,000 after acquiring an additional 35,616 shares during the period. Finally, Newtyn Management LLC increased its stake in QuidelOrtho by 58.3% during the third quarter. Newtyn Management LLC now owns 2,700,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $79,515,000 after acquiring an additional 994,332 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.00% of the company's stock.

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.

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