ILMN’s Quarter Results Show That Array Consumables Are Back With A Bang

Analysts at Piper Jaffray reiterate their "overweight" rating on Illumina Inc ILMN, while raising their estimates for the company. The target price for ILMN has been raised from $47 to $54. ILMN reported better-than-expected Q2 earnings. Piper Jaffray mentions, “Encouragingly, array consumables roared back in the quarter, exceeding the high end of the annualized range (i.e. >$500k), with focused content, bovine and the iSelect products leading growth. Contrary to commentary from other tools companies, Europe was strong, delivering the largest dollar contribution to growth of any geography. Additionally, orders tied to stimulus funding accounted for ~$26M in 2Q10 revenue.” “We estimate Illumina validated 138 sequencers during the quarter, above our 130 estimate. Management described strong demand for HiSeq 2000, with a growing, all-time record backlog (up 20% qoq) of pipeline instrument orders. Sanger recently placed an order to purchase 20 HiSeq 2000 instruments as part of Illumina's trade-in program…. Additionally, Illumina announced the $70M acquisition of Helixis, a company focusing on developing real-time PCR systems for genetic analysis and complimenting BeadXpress in the low multiplex space,” the analysts add. More Analyst Ratings here