Illumina Slumps as 2023 Profit Outlook Disappoints Street

Illumina Inc. shares tumbled after the gene-sequencing equipment maker said 2023 profit will be lower than analysts expected.

(Bloomberg) — Illumina Inc. shares tumbled after the gene-sequencing equipment maker said 2023 profit will be lower than analysts expected.

The company expects to earn $1.25 to $1.50 a share and revenue to reach $4.9 billion to $5 billion this year, executives said in a presentation Monday at the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco. Analysts had anticipated earnings of $2.99 a share in 2023, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg. The shares slid 11% before US markets opened.

Last year, Illumina began reporting shrinking demand for its equipment and services amid a broader downturn in the biotechnology sector and waning pandemic concerns. Feeling the effects of global economic headwinds, Illumina said in November that it would cut about 5% of its 10,000-person global workforce. 

The sales outlook is in line with expectations but the 2023 profit figures are “disappointing,” said Jonathan Palmer, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. Illumina also said its operating margin would likely reach about 8% during the period.

The profit outlook has shaken shareholder confidence, particularly after a number of disappointing quarters, guidance cuts and the unpopular $7 billion takeover of cancer-test provider Grail Inc., according to a note from analysts at Cowen. The Grail deal was vetoed by EU regulators last year on concerns it would hamper competition.

(Adds analyst comments in final paragraphs)

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