Shares of QuidelOrtho (QDEL) rose 3% in intra-day trading Wednesday following a 13F from Jana Partners, showing a new 1.2 million share position in the company. The shares were owned as of the end of March.
Shares of QuidelOrtho are down 47% over the last year.
In February, the board terminated Douglas Bryant, the President and Chief Executive Officer of QuidelOrtho, after the company posted dismal results and outlook.
In May, Brian Blaser was named the new CEO and President. Blaser most recently served as Executive Vice President, Diagnostic Products of Abbott Laboratories.
Shortly after the new CEO's announcement, with its Q1 earnings report in May, the company suspended its annual guidance, which they said would allow the new CEO an opportunity to assess the business. With the suspension of guidance, management indicated to investors that the projected model for 2024 aligns closely with or slightly below the lower end of the guidance ranges for the year.
Wall Street analysts were overall pessimistic about the guidance.
"All in, while the base business had a solid quarter in 1Q, the commentary around 2024 guidance today (namely pushing out Savanna revenue contribution again) served as a negative update and there remains little visibility into the core topline growth and margin profiles of the business," analysts at JP Morgan said at that time. "As such, we continue to see the risk/reward skewed to the downside relative to the rest of our coverage universe and maintain our Underweight rating and Dec. ‘24 PT of $37."