Need To Know: The Consensus Just Cut Its Quidel Corporation (NASDAQ:QDEL) Estimates For 2021

Market forces rained on the parade of Quidel Corporation (NASDAQ:QDEL) shareholders today, when the analysts downgraded their forecasts for this year. There was a fairly draconian cut to their revenue estimates, perhaps an implicit admission that previous forecasts were much too optimistic.

Following the downgrade, the consensus from five analysts covering Quidel is for revenues of US$1.7b in 2021, implying a considerable 9.6% decline in sales compared to the last 12 months. Prior to the latest estimates, the analysts were forecasting revenues of US$1.9b in 2021. It looks like forecasts have become a fair bit less optimistic on Quidel, given the substantial drop in revenue estimates.

Check out our latest analysis for Quidel

These estimates are interesting, but it can be useful to paint some more broad strokes when seeing how forecasts compare, both to the Quidel's past performance and to peers in the same industry. These estimates imply that sales are expected to slow, with a forecast annualised revenue decline of 13% by the end of 2021. This indicates a significant reduction from annual growth of 44% over the last five years. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in the same industry are forecast to see their revenue grow 8.1% annually for the foreseeable future. It's pretty clear that Quidel's revenues are expected to perform substantially worse than the wider industry.

The Bottom Line

The clear low-light was that analysts slashing their revenue forecasts for Quidel this year. They're also anticipating slower revenue growth than the wider market. Overall, given the drastic downgrade to this year's forecasts, we'd be feeling a little more wary of Quidel going forwards.

So things certainly aren't looking great, and you should also know that we've spotted some potential warning signs with Quidel, including recent substantial insider selling. Learn more, and discover the 2 other warning signs we've identified, for free on our platform here.

Of course, seeing company management invest large sums of money in a stock can be just as useful as knowing whether analysts are downgrading their estimates. So you may also wish to search this free list of stocks that insiders are buying.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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