Here's Why You Should Hold On To QIAGEN (QGEN) Stock Now

QIAGEN N.V. (NYSE:QGEN) is progressing well with its strategic collaborations, international market expansion and NGS platform projection.

In the past year, the company’s shares have outperformed the industry. The stock has improved 4.6% compared with the industry’s 19.5% fall and the S&P 500’s 2.5% rise.

This leading provider of innovative technologies and products for pre-analytical sample preparation as well as molecular diagnostics solutions has a market cap of $8.79 billion. The company has an expected earnings growth rate of 11.70% for the next three to five years.

Riding on solid prospects, this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock is worth holding on to.

What’s Favoring the Stock?

Progress with test menu expansion: QIAGEN is progressing well with its testing menu expansion strategy. The company is currently establishing its European footprint for the QIAstat-Dx system, which is gaining recognition as the next-generation solution for providing accurate insights into complex disease syndromes like respiratory and gastrointestinal conditions.

Strategic collaborations to drive growth: In terms of long-term business strategy, we are currently upbeat about QIAGEN’s partnership with NeoGenomics in the field of cancer genetic testing services. Apart from this, the company is significantly raising its bar of automated TB testing through the partnership with DiaSorin.

Solid Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) Platform Projection: Management aims to expand the NGS platform by scaling up the new Enterprise Genomics Services. The company is also working on the launch of a range of proprietary Digital NGS technology-based new gene panels within the GeneReader system.

However, there are some factors which are deterring the growth of the stock.

Reliance on commercial relationships: QIAGEN’s personalized Healthcare business comprises formation of projects with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to co-develop companion diagnostics paired with drugs that are marketed currently or are being developed. Future level of sales for companion diagnostics depends on the commercial success of the related medicines. Tests for the medicines have been designed to be used for determining their use in patients.

Competitive headwinds: Considering QIAGEN’s huge gamut of services, the company is also susceptible to competitive headwinds. The company is facing increasing competition from firms that provide competitive pre-analytical solutions and other products used by QIAGEN’s customers.

Which Way are Estimates Treading?

For the second quarter of 2019, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is pegged at 34 cents, which indicates 3.03% growth from the year-ago quarter’s figure. The same for revenues is pegged at $386.4 billion, calling for year-over-year growth of 2.4% from the prior-year quarter’s number.

For 2019, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is pegged at $1.43, suggesting 6.7% year-over-year growth. The same for revenues is pegged at $1.57 billion, suggesting 4.7% rise from the prior-year quarter’s level.

Key Picks

Some better-ranked stocks in the broader medical space are Cerner Corporation (NASDAQ:CERN) , Penumbra (NYSE:PEN) and Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR) . While Cerner sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Penumbra and Bruker carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Cerner’s long-term earnings growth rate is expected to be 13.5%.

Penumbra’s long-term earnings growth rate is projected at 21.5%.

Bruker’s long-term earnings growth rate is estimated at 11.7%.

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