What Happened?
Shares of scientific instrument company Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR). fell 13.8% in the afternoon session after the company released disappointing preliminary second-quarter financial results, which pointed to a significant drop in earnings and a decline in organic revenue. The scientific instrument maker announced that it expects second-quarter revenue to be between $795 million and $798 million, roughly flat compared to the same period last year. However, on an organic basis, which excludes impacts from currency and acquisitions, revenue is projected to have declined by approximately 7%. The company also anticipates non-GAAP earnings per share (EPS) in the range of $0.32 to $0.34, a steep fall of about $0.19 from the prior year. Bruker attributed the weak performance to soft demand from academic institutions and a slowdown in the U.S. biopharma market, which impacted quarterly bookings.
The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks. Is now the time to buy Bruker? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
What Is The Market Telling Us
Bruker’s shares are quite volatile and have had 16 moves greater than 5% over the last year. But moves this big are rare even for Bruker and indicate this news significantly impacted the market’s perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 3 days ago when the stock dropped 4.7% on the news that several negative developments weighed on the sector.
Weakness in managed care providers was a significant factor, with companies like Elevance Health and Humana seeing declines due to an analyst downgrade and a lost lawsuit regarding Medicare bonus payments, respectively.
Additionally, some pharmaceutical and biotech companies experienced sharp drops following unfavorable news; for instance, Sarepta Therapeutics plunged after a report indicated another patient death tied to its experimental gene therapy, and GSK's blood cancer drug dosage was voted against by the FDA advisory committee. Broader market sentiment, including concerns about rising costs and inadequate pricing for 2025 plans among health insurers, also contributed to the downward pressure on healthcare equities.
Bruker is down 40.2% since the beginning of the year, and at $35.16 per share, it is trading 50.2% below its 52-week high of $70.67 from September 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Bruker’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $835.15.
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