Standard BioTools (NASDAQ:LAB) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Standard BioTools (NASDAQ:LAB) from a "sell" to a "hold," though the stock still carries a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus price target of $1.35.
• The company topped estimates last quarter—EPS $0.05 vs. ($0.03) expected and revenue $23.8M vs. $18.5M expected—but remains unprofitable with a negative net margin of 59.39% and a market cap near $384 million as shares trade around $0.98.
• About 53.74% of the stock is held by institutional investors, with firms like AQR significantly increasing their positions recently.

Standard BioTools (NASDAQ:LAB - Get Free Report) was upgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report released on Saturday.

LAB has been the subject of several other research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Standard BioTools in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research raised Standard BioTools to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Standard BioTools presently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus price target of $1.35.

Standard BioTools Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LAB opened at $0.98 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $1.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1.31. Standard BioTools has a 52 week low of $0.92 and a 52 week high of $1.72. The company has a market cap of $384.06 million, a PE ratio of -4.92 and a beta of 1.36.

Standard BioTools (NASDAQ:LAB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 24th. The company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $23.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $18.50 million. On average, equities analysts predict that Standard BioTools will post -0.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Standard BioTools

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LAB. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Standard BioTools by 862.2% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 482,912 shares of the company's stock worth $522,000 after buying an additional 432,725 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Standard BioTools by 199.3% in the 2nd quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 56,957 shares of the company's stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 37,926 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Standard BioTools by 3.3% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,441,134 shares of the company's stock worth $8,931,000 after buying an additional 235,677 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning increased its holdings in Standard BioTools by 56.6% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 61,102 shares of the company's stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 22,082 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Standard BioTools by 6.1% in the second quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 149,018 shares of the company's stock valued at $179,000 after buying an additional 8,519 shares in the last quarter. 53.74% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Standard BioTools

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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