Standard BioTools Inc. (NASDAQ:LAB) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Key Points

• Short interest plunged 17.8% in April to 8,479,342 shares as of April 15, representing about 2.8% of shares sold short and a days-to-cover ratio of 2.4.
• Institutional investors now own 53.74% of the company, with large stake increases from Casdin Capital (now ~77.6M shares) and Mak Capital One (now ~15.9M shares).
• Analysts give a consensus Reduce rating with an average target of $1.35; the stock traded at $0.93 (up 4.7%) after a quarterly EPS and revenue beat, but the company remains unprofitable with negative net margin and ROE and is expected to post -0.1 EPS for the year.

Standard BioTools Inc. (NASDAQ:LAB - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant drop in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 8,479,342 shares, a drop of 17.8% from the March 31st total of 10,319,954 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,556,516 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.4 days. Currently, 2.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Standard BioTools

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LAB. Casdin Capital LLC increased its stake in Standard BioTools by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Casdin Capital LLC now owns 77,558,856 shares of the company's stock worth $100,827,000 after buying an additional 1,483,220 shares during the period. Mak Capital One LLC increased its stake in Standard BioTools by 184.6% in the 3rd quarter. Mak Capital One LLC now owns 15,931,806 shares of the company's stock worth $20,711,000 after buying an additional 10,334,384 shares during the period. Long Focus Capital Management LLC increased its stake in 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 buying an additional 1,292,804 shares during the period. Cibc World Markets Corp purchased a new position in Standard BioTools in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Finally, Staley Capital Advisers Inc. purchased a new position in Standard BioTools in the 1st quarter worth about $581,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 53.74% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on LAB. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Standard BioTools from a "sell (e+)" rating to a "sell (d-)" rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Standard BioTools from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, March 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Standard BioTools currently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $1.35.

Standard BioTools Trading Up 4.7%

Shares of LAB traded up $0.04 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $0.93. The stock had a trading volume of 3,108,188 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,130,097. Standard BioTools has a 1 year low of $0.87 and a 1 year high of $1.72. The stock's 50 day moving average is $0.97 and its 200 day moving average is $1.23.

Standard BioTools (NASDAQ:LAB - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.03) by $0.08. Standard BioTools had a negative net margin of 59.39% and a negative return on equity of 11.21%. The business had revenue of $23.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.50 million. As a group, analysts expect that Standard BioTools will post -0.1 EPS for the current 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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