Diagnostics provider Hologic expects Covid-19 testing capacities to boost business post-pandemic

Hologic CEO Steve Macmillan told CNBC Wednesday that the company will be positioned to be even stronger beyond the coronavirus pandemic, thanks to the role the diagnostics company is playing in providing Covid-19 testing.

“We’ve clearly gotten a big bump up from our Covid testing,” he said in a one-on-one interview with Jim Cramer on “Mad Money.”

Hologic, a maker of high-end diagnostic equipment, imaging systems and surgical products primarily serving women’s health needs, spent last year boosting the number of Panther instruments being used by hospitals and labs in the U.S.

Panther is a testing system from Hologic that consolidates more than a dozen molecular testing capabilities, including assays for HPV, Zika Virus and Covid-19, into one device. In 2020, the Marlborough, Massachusetts-based company delivered more than 370 systems to health providers in response to the coronavirus pandemic, Macmillan said. That number is up 272% from about 100 systems that were delivered in the year prior.

The company said it distributed more than 500 Panther systems around the globe in the fiscal year that ended last September.

“As we come out the pandemic, we’re that much more established and we’ll run all of our regular tests in all of those additional locations,” Macmillan explained.

The comments come after Hologic topped Wall Street estimates in the first quarter of fiscal 2021. The company posted revenue growth of 89%, driven by a triple-digit increase in its diagnostics business from the year-ago quarter. Hologic brought in $1.61 billion on the top line and produced $653 million in net income, a 69% increase year over yaer.

Hologic provided revenue guidance in the narrow range of $1.5 billion and $1.56 billion for the current quarter, which would represent twice as much revenue that the company brought in during the same quarter last year.

Hologic shares have rallied more than 13% since the company reported earnings a week ago. The stock moved 0.22% higher in Wednesday’s session at a close of $82.32.