Skip to Content
Morningstar

Qiagen Earnings: Resetting After COVID-19 Boom Years Looks Likely to Deepen a Bit in 2023

""
Securities In This Article
Qiagen NV
(QIA)

Qiagen’s QIA second-quarter results mildly exceeded expectations, even when considering the significant COVID-19-related declines versus a tough comparable period in 2022. However, management trimmed its 2023 guidance due to more severe retrenching activities at some customers, similar to recent trends we have seen at other life science toolmakers. After adjusting our near-term assumptions a bit, we do not anticipate changing our fair value estimate for Qiagen at first glance. Also, while our moat rating remains none, we recognize that Qiagen’s operations have improved substantially in recent years even when excluding COVID-19-related demand, and we expect the company to remain economically profitable throughout our five-year forecast period.

In the quarter, Qiagen’s sales and adjusted EPS exceeded management’s previous guidance in constant currency. Qiagen delivered particularly strong results in its QuantiFERON tuberculosis diagnostic tests, which exceeded $100 million in quarterly sales for the first time. However, Qiagen’s COVID-19-related product declines overwhelmed the non-COVID-19 results, causing overall sales to decline 4% in constant currency, including a 59% decline in COVID-19-related products and a 9% increase in non-COVID-19 sales. With cost controls, however, Qiagen was able to boost adjusted EPS by 2% in constant currency to $0.52 per share, or above management’s expectations of at least $0.50.

However, with customer demand retreating further than anticipated in some segments, the company reduced its guidance for 2023 to at least $1.97 billion in constant current sales (down from $2.05 billion previously) and at least $2.07 of adjusted EPS (down from at least $2.10 previously). While disappointing, mild reductions in our near-term expectations, including cash flows as the company’s inventories build, do not look likely to materially affect our fair value estimate, which depends more on longer-term prospects that have not changed much.

The author or authors do not own shares in any securities mentioned in this article. Find out about Morningstar’s editorial policies.

More in Stocks

About the Author

Julie Utterback

Senior Equity Analyst
More from Author

Julie Utterback is a senior equity analyst for Morningstar Research Services LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Morningstar, Inc. Within the healthcare industry, she covers medical technology and service companies. She is also the chairperson of the equity research team’s capital allocation methodology.

Utterback joined Morningstar in 2005 as an equity analyst in the healthcare industry. At that time, she covered medical technology companies, including orthopedic device, medical equipment, and cardiac device firms. In 2010, she joined Morningstar's credit research team, initiating coverage of the entire healthcare industry and generally helping the organization expand and maintain its credit coverage across many industries. She held that senior credit analyst role until April 2019, when she returned to the equity team to cover medical technology and service companies.

Prior to joining Morningstar, Utterback was an equity analyst at State Farm Insurance for several years. She holds a bachelor's degree in finance from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation.

Sponsor Center