Tag Archives: ilmn

Facebook Passes 50-Day Test; Netflix, Illumina Break 2 Support Lines

Facebook ( FB ) tested a key level Tuesday morning but came out stronger. But Netflix ( NFLX ) and Illumina ( ILMN ) crashed through support levels on weak Q1 figures. IBM ( IBM ) gets an incomplete. MaxLinear ( MXL ) triggered a sell rule as well as breaking a support level. Facebook Facebook has been finding support at its 50-day moving average since April 11, when shares finished just below that key level. Since then the stock has closed above that support level. On Tuesday, Facebook shook off a morning dip to just above the 50-day to rally for a 1.7% gain at 112.29. On the upside, the next key level is a buy point at 117.09. Facebook releases earnings next week, with analysts expecting a 48% EPS gain, the third straight quarter of accelerating growth. Netflix Netflix late Monday reported an unexpected rise in Q1 earnings per share. Subscriber growth also topped expectations. But the Web-streaming giant expects net global-customer growth of just 2.5 million in Q2, which would be the weakest quarterly gain in two years . It also guided Q2 earnings lower. Netflix stock dived 13% Tuesday, crashing through its 200-day and 50-day moving averages in one fell swoop. (Netflix retook its 200-day line just last week). How do Netflix and IBM stack up vs. their rivals? Find out at IBD Stock Checkup Illumina Illumina late Monday gave Q1 preliminary revenue figures that were well below Wall Street estimates. The gene-sequencing tools giant sees Q1 sales up 6%, ending a 14-quarter string of double-digit growth. Illumina stock crashed 23.2% on Tuesday, back near two-year lows. Like Netflix, Illumina tumbled through its 200-day and 50-day lines. The stock on Monday topped its 200-day for the first time this year. IBM IBM revenue and earnings did top Wall Street forecasts late Monday, though sales have fallen for 16 straight quarters. Also, IBM’s implied Q2 EPS guidance appeared to be below analyst estimates. IBM stock fell 5.6% on Tuesday, undercutting its 200-day line intraday but closing just above that area. But IBM could easily retest the 200-day line in the coming days, with the 50-day only slightly below that. MaxLinear MaxLinear’s chip designs are used in video streaming. The stock cleared an entry point of 17.85 last month, rising to a 19.10 peak on April 4. But shares drifted lower since then. On Tuesday, the stock dived 10.2% to 15.86, triggering an 8% sell rule from that entry point and breaking through its 50-day moving average. It wasn’t immediately clear why the MaxLinear shares fell.

Illumina Q1 Sales Miss Estimates; Stock Slammed

Illumina ( ILMN ) plummeted in after-hours trading Monday when the genomics giant announced weak preliminary Q1 revenue and cut its full-year outlook. Illumina said that sales during the quarter rose 6% over the year-earlier quarter to $572 million, about $14 million less than Wall Street expected, according to Thomson Reuters. It would end a 14-quarter string of double-digit growth. Shares dived 19% to 145 in late trading after closing up 2.6% to 178.13, a three-month high moving above its 200-day moving average for the first time this year. The preliminary results missed company expectations as well, according to CEO Jay Flatley. “Our first-quarter results fell short of expectations largely due to lower than expected sales of HiSeq 2500, 3000 and 4000 instruments,” Flatley said in a statement . “Despite this slow start in Q1, we anticipate that our Americas and Asia Pacific regions will meet our expectations for the full year but that Europe will underperform. As a result, we now project approximately 12% revenue growth for fiscal 2016.” Previously, Illumina had guided 16% sales growth for the year. Flatley added that the company is reshuffling European operations to try to address the shortfall, though the statement didn’t provide specifics. Illumina said that it will report full Q1 results after the close on May 3. This was the latest in a series of disappointments from Illumina. Its stock has fallen after every quarterly report since January of last year; it fell again on March 8 after the company said that Flatley will leave his post on July 5, to be succeeded by current President Francis deSouza. The stock had been recovering since then. “The instrument softness was not a complete surprise, given that sequencing instrument growth had slowed down over the past six quarters,” Evercore ISI analyst Ross Muken wrote in an email to clients. “That being said, the magnitude of the revenue guidance change … will be a point of debate for investors.”

Illumina Sells Off After Longtime CEO Announces Departure

Gene-sequencing giant Illumina ( ILMN ) was trading down sharply Tuesday after it announced late Monday that longtime CEO Jay Flatley was leaving his post. Flatley plans to become executive chairman of Illumina on July 5, at which point the current president, Francis deSouza, will become CEO. Flatley has headed Illumina since 1999, shortly after its founding, and has overseen its debut on the stock market and its rise to a multibillion-dollar company. DeSouza joined in 2013 from Symantec ( SYMC ), which had acquired his startup IMlogic. BTIG analyst Dane Leone wrote that deSouza was generally expected to succeed Flatley, but perhaps not yet. “Mr. deSouza has been prominently featured within the investor community over the past 12 months, and his ascension to be Jay’s successor is unlikely to be a surprise for most investors,” Leone wrote in a research note. “However, we do think that the timing of the transition is sooner than expected.” Evercore ISI analyst Ross Muken wrote that continuity is likely the theme of the transition. “We believe that this transition was long telegraphed to the market and should come as no surprise to shareholders,” Muken wrote in his research note. “With respect to Jay, the executive chairman title also likely signals his continued close involvement in the business, albeit the need for him to focus on bigger picture concepts . . . vs. day to day execution.” Nonetheless, Illumina stock was down more than 4% in midday trading on the stock market today , near 155. The stock had been recovering from a four-month low of 130.37 hit on Feb. 8, but retains a dismal IBD Relative Strength Rating of 29 despite a strong EPS Rank of 79.