— Jeff Ward, Lehigh Valley News Briefs
OraSure shares fell hard Wednesday after the company reported a fourth-quarter loss, a big decline in revenue and lower gross margins.
The Bethlehem-based maker of diagnostic kits and sample-collection devices also warned during a conference call Tuesday that cuts in federal spending are a threat.
The company speaks in jargon a lot, so the term “strategic” and the like were tossed about quite a bit Tuesday. It didn’t help: money talks and jargon walks.
Shares of OraSure (NASDAQ:OSUR) traded at $2.94 at 11:14 a.m. Wednesday, down $1.06. Thus about a quarter of the value of the company was wiped out on paper.
How long will the institutional investors have patience with Chief Executive Carrie Eglinton Manner and the rest of leadership? Maybe Wall Street sees hope in OraSure. Not much today, though.
The company keeps talking about a “strategic transformation” and the share price keeps falling.
Fourth-quarter revenue fell by 51% to $37.5 million; the adjusted loss worked out to 6 cents per share, and gross margins were down. Rather than go through all the numbers (link here), I’ll consider the market reaction to be the verdict on OraSure’s results.
If losing money and falling revenue are “strategic,” the company is on target. The decline in revenue was expected, but that doesn’t make it good news.
OraSure rode a wave of federal dollars during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, it’s been on a steady decline and investors have lost lots of money, including millions (on paper) today.
Can anything this company does internally matter?
OraSure needs another pandemic, perhaps, or lots of government money. It has a new factory in Bethlehem Township. Perhaps it can interest a bigger company in some kind of venture.
Otherwise, I expect more of the same. Jargon,
Lehigh Valley News Briefs 