Health and Healthcare

Just How Bad Have Things Gotten at Myriad Genetics?

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Shares of Myriad Genetics Inc. (NASDAQ: MYGN) traded down as much as 16% Wednesday morning following a late Tuesday announcement that the company’s president and CEO is retiring and that the company is lowering its fiscal-year guidance. The last time the stock fell this much was when the company lost a 9-0 decision in the U.S. Supreme Court in June of 2013 that denied Myriad’s claim to patent human genes isolated from a person’s body.

The stock posted a five-year high of $42.505 in March of last year, but it has since drifted to its close at around $38 on Tuesday and below $32 early Wednesday. The company had to change direction following the Supreme Court ruling and has tried to expand its offerings of molecular diagnostics. That worked to some degree, but the company has had difficulty in collecting payments for some of its diagnostics treatments and that lead to the cut to its guidance.

Insurance company reimbursements have been slow for its test for rheumatoid arthritis and Medicare is not scheduled to begin paying for Myriad’s prostate cancer test until late June, the month that the company’s current fiscal year ends.

Earnings per share guidance was cut from a range of $1.90 to $2.00 to a new range of $1.50 to $1.55 for the current fiscal year, and revenue guidance was cut from a range of $800 million to $820 million to a new range of $730 million to $740 million.

The company’s retiring CEO said that he believes the reimbursement issues are “transient in nature” and will have “minimal impact on our long-term financial outlook.”

Shares traded at around $34.15 in the late morning on Wednesday, down more than 10%, in a 52-week range of $29.10 to $42.50. The consensus price target on the stock is about $39.00.

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