More Bad News on Alere

The second shoe has dropped on Alere (ALR $19) with the stock off 15% as the FDA inspection news regarding manufacturing and quality at the “Biosite”facility.Leerink Swann downgraded the stock to “Market Perform” after trying to support the stock earlier but there is downside risk with potential product recalls and revenue misses to a $200M revenue line. Now we need to wait at least 2 quarters to see the full impact of quality issues in the San Diego facility. Another strategic question on the acquisition strategy is not only the massive debt incurred but the composition of the product line, primarily focused on the POC (point of care-near patient) market .

The market is trying to stabilize in here after a nasty response to CSCO and now JPM down 4% after hours. But biotech was up about 1% today.

Turnarounds Hit Bumps:ALR and RGDX

Diagnostics and tools stocks are mixed today with more green than red. We have two turnaround picks in our diagnostics and tools: Alere (ALR $22.30) up 0.95%  but down after hours on FDA inspection affecting $69M of Triage Q1 Revenue.  The Triage product line was  the major reason for buying Biosite for $1.6B in Q2 2007. Response Genetics(RGDX $1.61) down 18%. announced Q1 Revenues of $4M compared to $5.9M in the same quarter last year as a result of an anticipated loss of pharmaceutical client revenue (Glaxo GSK). The Net Loss increased to 0.14 per share vs 0.01 per share in the previous quarter. Stockholder equity is $11.9M.

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