Sometimes, all a stock needs to have a good day on Wall Street is a positive note from one of the analysts tracking it. This dynamic was in evidence on Thursday with QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ: QDEL), when a prognosticator's recommendation upgrade powered the in vitro diagnostic healthcare company's shares to a more than 10% gain. That made it quite the outperformer, as the S&P 500 index sagged by 0.3% Thursday.
A new bull arrives
Craig-Hallum's Bill Bonello was the day's newly minted QuidelOrtho bull. The analyst now feels the stock is a buy, one peg up from his previous hold rating. Bonello also substantially raised his price target on the shares to $57 from his previous target of $40.
The modifications stem from the analyst's belief that QuidelOrtho has vast and unexploited potential to boost its fundamentals. Bonello went so far as to write in his latest analyst note on the company that it should be able to grow revenue at mid-to-high single-digit percentage rates by 2027. Better still, in his view, it could crank its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) margins into the mid-to-high 20% range.
"With comparable companies trading at 12 to 14 times forward year EBITDA, it is conceivable that QDEL shares could reach $100 or more, two years from now," he wrote.
Bottom-line concerns
On such a basis, QuidelOrtho does seem to be undervalued. However, the company has booked net losses in four of its five most recently reported quarters, a trend that is surely keeping some investors away. It might have to book a few profitable frames in order to regain the market's trust.
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Eric Volkman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends QuidelOrtho. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
