: Illumina stock falls, as ‘cautious consumer backdrop’ tempers outlook

Shares of Illumina Inc. slid 6.6% after hours on Wednesday after the DNA-sequencing company tempered its full-year sales outlook, amid a cautious consumer backdrop and a wobbly economic recovery in China. The company, whose equipment helps with genome analysis, said it expected full-year sales growth of around 1%. That was down from an outlook of 7% to 10% given in April. “Despite additional placements, we expect our second-half revenue to be negatively impacted by customers remaining more cautious in their purchasing, a more protracted recovery in China, and a larger-than-expected temporary decline in high throughput consumables as customers transition to the NovaSeq X,” the company said, referring to one of its sequencers. “In response, we are increasing customer support for the NovaSeq X and continue to manage our expense base in a disciplined way.” For the second quarter, the company reported a net loss of $234 million, or $1.48 a share, which was narrower than the $535 million loss, or $3.40 a share, reported in the same quarter last year. Revenue crept higher, to $1.18 billion, compared with $1.16 billion in the prior-year quarter. Adjusted for costs related to sales, R&D and general and administrative expenses, Illumina earned 32 cents a share. Analysts polled by FactSet expected adjusted earnings per share of 2 cents, on revenue of $1.16 billion. The company also announced the departure of Chief Medical Officer Phil Febbo. And it said Steven Barnard will be its next Chief Technology Officer, as Alex Aravanis departs.

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