OraSure Shares Rise 5% After Naming Kenny to Board, Before Settling; Perhaps His Role in Selling Meridian Bioscience Drew Interest

— Jeff Ward, Lehigh Valley News Briefs

Shares of OraSure Technologies, the Bethlehem-based maker of medical diagnostic tests, jumped a bit on Monday before settling up about 1%.

The company announced Monday that Jack Kenny, the former chief executive of Meridian Bioscience, joined its board of directors.

The statement from OraSure plays up this part of Kenny’s resume: ” … he led the company’s turnaround before it was acquired.”

Meridian Bioscience announced in 2022 that it would be acquired for $1.53 billion.

OraSure went through its own search for corporate suitors in 2022 but stayed single. Maybe investors interpreted the Kenny addition as another move in that direction, or maybe not. The intraday move wasn’t huge.

The company is much smaller than Meridian Bioscience (former ticker symbol: VIVO) was. OraSure’s market capitalization is $314 million, about a fifth of Meridian Bioscience’s value at the time of the announced sale.

What is next for OraSure? That is the question.

OraSure shares (ticker OSUR on NASDAQ) opened Monday at $4.16, rose about 5% to $4.37 and settled at $4.21 at the close. That’s not a real dramatic move, and the stock remains at less than half of its 52-week high of $8.45.

The stock has been a laggard, as the maker of home test kits and collection devices moves past the COVID-19 pandemic. Government contracts for OraSure’s InteliSwab COVID test boosted revenue, but that has wound down.

The company also makes the OraQuick test for HIV.

What is now OraSure was founded in Bethlehem as SolarCare in 1988. The company made sunscreen towelettes.