QuidelOrtho news does not help investor sentiment, says William Blair

William Blair says QuidelOrtho’s decision withdraw the current FDA 510(k) submission for the Savanna RVP4+ assay is disappointing and does not help improve sentiment on the shares. The firm is “not all that surprised” to see the stock trading down high-single-digits following the news. While there is little in the stock in terms of valuation for Savanna, this is a required assay to help drive a meaningful number of platform placements, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Blair says the test’s clearance is ow less likely to come later this year, and with competitors like bioMerieux and its Spotfire platform extending its respiratory menu by recently obtaining 510(k) clearance, “this is critical time that is potentially lost” for QuidelOrtho. The firm keeps a Market Perform rating on the shares.