Illumina (ILMN $30.23) shares spiked today on takeover speculation. The shares were whacked in July and the stock is down 52% YTD on an earnings miss with no guidance. Revenue estimates from analysts are in the $1B range for 2011 so with the current Market Cap of $3.7B the Company is not too expensive for the right large cap buyer. Life Science tools shares are down this year due to NIH cuts and concern about new medical applications for sequencing. The stock was downgraded by virtually everyone in early October. The balance sheet is strong with $1B is stockholder equity.
Other major Life Science tools stocks were strong today: Agilent (A $37.80 up 2.8%), LifeTechnologies (LIFE $40.46) up 3.57% and Qiagen (QGEN $15.06) up 3.65%. Diagnostic stocks were also up with our overall index up 2%.
Qiagen (QGEN) announced a restructuring last week with an 8-10% workforce reduction.The 52 week low for the stock is $12.47.