NEW YORK – Qiagen said on Thursday that it expects second quarter net sales to increase 18 percent to 19 percent year over year at constant exchange rates (CER), exceeding the outlook of 12 percent growth it provided in May.
Based on the expected percentage growth range and sales of $381.6 million in Q2 2019, Q2 sales would be $450.3 million to $454.1 million. On average, analysts were expecting Q2 revenues of $413.7 million.
The better-than-expected sales growth reflects "very significant demand' for COVID-19 testing products, tempered by weaker customer demand in other product areas, the company said.
Adjusted earnings per share for Q2 are expected to rise approximately 68 percent to $.55 to $.56 based on preliminary results compared with $.33 in Q2 2019. In May, Qiagen had provided an EPS outlook of at least $.40. Based on exchanges rates as of June 30, Qiagen expects currency movements against the US dollar to have an adverse impact on Q2 results of about 2 to 3 percentage points, resulting in an adverse impact of about $.01 on adjusted EPS.
Qiagen said it continues to experience "unprecedented demand" for products used in coronavirus testing, particularly RNA sample technology kits, reagents sold to third parties for use in their own kits, and cartridges for the QiaStat-Dx syndromic testing platform. The QiaStat-Dx respiratory panel with coronavirus targets received Emergency Use Authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration and CE IVD marking in March.
Qiagen is in the process of being acquired by Thermo Fisher Scientific for $11.5 billion. On June 30, Qiagen’s shareholders approved all agenda items related to the proposed takeover.