Shares boost for handful of virus testing firms as US ramps up Covid-19 plans
A few healthcare companies which are developing or selling tests to diagnose the coronavirus traded higher yesterday after analysts highlighted the rise in the number of tests being conducted in the US.
Hologic and Laboratory Corp of America was the top performers in the S&P 500 Health Care Index as Cowen analysts said the ramping up number of coronavirus tests was “encouraging and consistent with our expectation that testing capacity could expand significantly” to about 500,000 per day by the end of May, in the US.
Comments from President Donald Trump this week surrounding both flu and Covid-19 infections offered a positive for companies that make tests for both diseases, the broker wrote. “The frequent mention of the need to be prepared to rapidly delineate between flu, Covid-19, and other infections” is a clear strength for multiplex tests offered by GenMark Diagnostics Inc, Qiagen and others.
That need also provides a benefit for higher-volume single marker test providers such as Thermo Fisher Scientific, Danaher, and Hologic, among others. Shares in Hologic, LabCorp, and GenMark rose sharply.
