Short Interest in Standard BioTools Inc. (NASDAQ:LAB) Declines By 18.5%

Key Points

• Short interest in Standard BioTools fell by 18.5% to 8,281,198 shares as of March 13, equal to about 2.8% of shares sold short and a short‑interest ratio of 2.5 days.
• Large institutions have been adding stakes — notably Casdin Capital increased its holding by 11,225,000 shares to 88,783,856 — and institutional investors now own about 53.74% of the stock.
• Analysts show a consensus "Reduce" rating with a $1.35 target while the stock trades near $0.92 (market cap ~$359M); the company recently beat quarterly revenue and EPS estimates but remains unprofitable with a fiscal‑year EPS forecast of -0.29.

Standard BioTools Inc. (NASDAQ:LAB - Get Free Report) was the target of a large drop in short interest in March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 8,281,198 shares, a drop of 18.5% from the February 26th total of 10,159,609 shares. Approximately 2.8% of the company's stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 3,266,118 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.5 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on LAB shares. Zacks Research raised Standard BioTools to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Wall Street Zen raised Standard BioTools from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, March 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Standard BioTools in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Standard BioTools currently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $1.35.

Institutional Trading of Standard BioTools

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Casdin Capital LLC raised its position in Standard BioTools by 14.5% in the fourth quarter. Casdin Capital LLC now owns 88,783,856 shares of the company's stock worth $113,643,000 after acquiring an additional 11,225,000 shares during the period. Mak Capital One LLC grew its position in shares of Standard BioTools by 21.1% during the 4th quarter. Mak Capital One LLC now owns 19,288,158 shares of the company's stock valued at $24,689,000 after acquiring an additional 3,356,352 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Standard BioTools by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,245,583 shares of the company's stock valued at $22,419,000 after acquiring an additional 263,845 shares during the period. Long Focus Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Standard BioTools by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter. Long Focus Capital Management LLC now owns 11,362,804 shares of the company's stock worth $14,772,000 after purchasing an additional 1,292,804 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Standard BioTools by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,441,134 shares of the company's stock worth $8,931,000 after purchasing an additional 235,677 shares during the period. 53.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Standard BioTools Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LAB traded up $0.02 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $0.92. 805,418 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,884,519. The firm has a market capitalization of $359.25 million, a P/E ratio of -4.61 and a beta of 1.36. Standard BioTools has a one year low of $0.88 and a one year high of $1.72. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $1.17 and a two-hundred day moving average of $1.29.

Standard BioTools (NASDAQ:LAB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 24th. The company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.03) by $0.08. Standard BioTools had a negative return on equity of 11.21% and a negative net margin of 59.39%.The company had revenue of $23.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.50 million. Equities analysts forecast that Standard BioTools will post -0.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Standard BioTools Company Profile

Standard BioTools, Inc NASDAQ: LAB, formerly known as Fluidigm Corporation, is a life sciences tools company that develops and commercializes high-parameter, single-cell and spatial biology solutions. The company’s platforms integrate microfluidics, mass cytometry, sequencing and imaging to enable researchers to probe cellular heterogeneity, molecular interactions and complex tissue architecture. Its end users span academic institutions, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies worldwide.

The company’s flagship products include mass cytometry systems—such as the Helios and Hyperion Imaging System—for multiplexed protein analysis at single-cell resolution, and the Chromium-style single-cell genomic tools for high-throughput gene expression profiling.

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