On robust and active Life Science trading day two laggard diagnostic stocks perked up:
Iris International (IRIS $9.41) is up 4.44% on FDA clearance of its iChem Velocity Workstation for automated Urine Chemistries. The stock is been trading from $9-10 over the past six months.P/S for 2011 forecasts is 165/119 or 1.39X. Felti and Co. has a hold on the stock which at the current valuation would be a turnaround candidate. Shareholder equity is $88.6M.
Meridian Bioscience(VIVO $22.22) is up 4% on an upgrade by Canaccord Genuity to a buy. On March 2 the Company announced FDA clearance for the Illumigene molecular amplification test for the C.diff pediatric claim. Analysts estimate SEP 2012 year end revenues at $165M with EPS at 78 cents. Earnings were down 21% in the most recent quarter. Meridian pays a 3.5% dividend highly unusual for a small cap company. However with a current PE of 38 and a P/S of 911/165 or 5.5X the stock is not cheap. Shareholder equity is $136M. On a technical level the stock has support at $21 with upside to $24.
A speculative stock getting a lot of traders attention is Accelr8 Technology (AXK $4.30) up 11.6% based on its new drug resistance test. More on this Company at a later date. The 52 week stock range is 65 cents to $5.70. Revenues are minimal.