Illumina gets upgrade at Bank of America on balanced 2022 outlook
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Illumina (ILMN
-0.8%) was upgraded by Bank of America to Neutral from Underperform on a more balanced outlook in 2022.
BofA said in a research note that it sees less downside risk to its estimates or valuation from current levels, and see a more balanced outlook in 2022.

The prior Underperform thesis was predominantly driven by a slower-than-anticipated demand ramp for NovaSeq, volatile trends across a number of product lines as customers absorbed the increased sequencing capacity in the market, and valuation that had become too extended given slowing growth.
The chart below shows 1-year total return performance of Illumina and its peers Agilent, IQVIA and Mettler-Toledo:

BofA added that as it reevaluates Illumina at the start of 2022, it is more positive on all of those points.
It noted that NovaSeq (and overall sequencing) demand has improved significantly in recent quarters. Illumina has returned to more steady and consistent growth across the portfolio, and valuation is more reasonable by historical standards.