What Happened?
Shares of healthcare diagnostics company QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ: QDEL) fell 3.7% in the morning session after the company extended a recent losing streak amid investor anxiety ahead of its second-quarter earnings announcement.
The decline continued a recent period of negative performance for the diagnostics company, which had already seen its stock fall by approximately 20% over an eight-day period leading up to July 22. While no specific company news was released to trigger the latest drop, investors were looking ahead to QuidelOrtho's second-quarter financial results, which the company had previously announced it would report on August 5, 2025. This anticipation may have contributed to the bearish sentiment surrounding the stock. The prevailing view from Wall Street analysts was mixed, with a consensus "Hold" rating on the shares.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
QuidelOrtho’s shares are very volatile and have had 26 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 10 days ago when the stock dropped 4% as several negative developments weighed on the sector. Weakness in managed care providers was a significant factor, with companies like Elevance Health and Humana seeing declines due to an analyst downgrade and a lost lawsuit regarding Medicare bonus payments, respectively. Additionally, some pharmaceutical and biotech companies experienced sharp drops following unfavorable news; for instance, Sarepta Therapeutics plunged after a report indicated another patient death tied to its experimental gene therapy, and GSK's blood cancer drug dosage was voted against by the FDA advisory committee. Broader market sentiment, including concerns about rising costs and inadequate pricing for 2025 plans among health insurers, also contributed to the downward pressure on healthcare equities.
QuidelOrtho is down 40.5% since the beginning of the year, and at $26.80 per share, it is trading 43.7% below its 52-week high of $47.61 from January 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of QuidelOrtho’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $105.11.
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