The Hologic Panther system (Image from Hologic)
Hologic
Share price on Dec. 31, 2019: $52.21
Share price on Dec. 31, 2020: $72.83
Change: +39%
Hologic (NSDQ:HOLX) entered 2020 as a diagnostic company that spent most of its time in the breast health diagnostic space, but left 2020 with a new, major string in its bow.
The Marlborough, Mass.–based company became one of the leaders in COVID-19 testing over the course of the year, producing a number of diagnostics that run on multiple systems. Hologic helped to increase testing capacities from the get-go.
Hologic has been the recipient of a number of government contracts to produce tests, most recently garnering a $119 million contract from the U.S. government to expand production of its COVID-19 diagnostics. These contracts, plus the income collected through the diagnostic output, have positioned the company for massive growth and the markets have taken notice.
Just last week, Hologic said its first-quarter (ended Dec. 26, 2020) revenues were nearly doubled from the year prior. The company’s general businesses have performed as usual or with slight improvements from 2019, but the diagnostics business, spurred by the company’s COVID-19 test production, has increased from revenues of $311.5 million in 2020 to $1.13 billion in 2021, marking an uptick of 262.2%.
In response to the increased income, the company launched a private offering worth $950 million back in September. It proceeded to execute some major M&A moves, including the purchases of Biotheranostics for approximately $230 million, Somatex Medical Technologies GmbH for $64 million and fibroid treatment developer Acessa Health in a deal worth approximately $80 million.
Business didn’t stop there, though, with Hologic rolling out some products that kept its other segments ticking while COVID-19 was in the spotlight:
- FDA approval for a diagnostic claim for its HIV-1 viral load monitoring assay.
- Launch of the Omni suite for optimizing diagnostic and operative hysteroscopy.
- Launch of the SuperSonic MACH 40 premium, cart-based ultrasound system.
With its big moves made in 2020 and at the start of 2021, expect even more from Hologic as the year progresses.
