[角色] 你是一名拥有10年投资银行从业经验的资深研究分析师，专门负责上市公司、行业研究。你擅长解读公司财报、行业动态、宏观市场，发现潜在的投资机会和风险。 [任务] 你需要仔细研读一份上市公司或者行业研究的电话会议记录，请阅读全文，一步一步思考，总结全文列出关键要点，不要错过任何信息，包括： * 纪要涉及的行业或者公司 * 纪要提到的核心观点和论据 * 其他重要但是可能被忽略的内容 如果没有相关内容，请跳过这一部分，进行其他的部分。 总结时要全面、详细、尽可能覆盖全部的内容、不遗漏重点,并根据上述方面对内容进行分组。 要引用原文数字数据和百分比变化,注意单位换算(billion=十亿,million=百万,thousand=千)。 [注意事项] 1) 使用中文,不要出现句号 2) 采用markdown格式 3) 不使用第一人称,以"公司"、"行业"代替 4) 只输出关于公司和行业的内容 5) 在每一个关键点后用[序号]形式引用原文档id 6) 一个[序号]只应该包含一个数字，不能包含多个，如果多个就用[序号][序号]分开写，不要写成 [序号-序号] 7) 每个关键要点后边的 [序号] 不要超过 3 个 Content: --------- <doc id='1'>QuidelOrtho (NasdaqGS:QDEL) 2025 Conference September 10, 2025 03:10 PM ET Speaker0 Go ahead and get started, I'm Katherine Schulte, I cover life sciences and diagnostics here at Baird. Very excited to have Quidel Ortho joining us today. From the company we have the CFO, Joe Buske. So Joe, thanks so much for joining us. I think we're gonna dive right into Q and A so if anyone has a question, feel free to send them to session3rwbear dot com and I will pass them along.</doc> <doc id='2'>So Joe, thought maybe we could just start at a high level. Can you just talk about key takeaways from the quarter and maybe how your strategic vision for the company is unfolding here? Speaker1 Sure. And by the way, thanks, Katherine. Thanks for having us to the conference. It's been great. And as far as that first question on highlights from Q2, I would say that we've now had two good quarters in a row to start off 2025 with good margin improvement of 400 plus basis point margin improvement over the prior year.</doc> <doc id='3'>I think we also showed that we've made some strategic decisions in line with what Brian and I said we were wanna do fifteen months ago when he started. And, examples of that would be we we announced that we're closing a very large manufacturing facility in Raritan, New Jersey, which is gonna provide some real nice operating margin improvement in a couple years. And we made the decision to pivot from Savannah development of molecular product to Lex, which is a business in UK that we're going to purchase once they get FDA approval for their first respiratory panel. And so again these decisions are just all around margin improvement and making the company more productive and more efficient. Again, things that Brian and I said we were gonna do last year when he when he started.</doc> <doc id='4'>I guess the last thing I'd mention is that the base business continues to grow in at the rate which we said it would grow, you know, in that sort of mid single digit growth for labs and immunohematology.</doc> <doc id='5'>Speaker0 Yeah, I want to get into Lexin a bit, but maybe starting on the lab side of the business. You know, to your point, recurring revenue growth remained solid to start the year. You know, where do you think you're winning in the clinical chemistry business? Speaker1 Yeah, the strategy with labs continues a strategy that was started probably about five or so years ago, and that is to focus on the small to mid size hospital and labs, which we define as our sweet spot. You know, we're doing quite well there. I would say the other strategy is to focus on leading with integrated analyzers that runs both routine chemistry and immunoassays. And, you know, that strategy continues to be the one that we're gonna employ and it's it's working quite well. And, you know, the growth in the labs business continues to be right where we said it would be in that mid single digit growth range.</doc> <doc id='6'>Speaker0 What about on the instrumentation side? You know, how's the current capital equipment environment? Speaker1 Yeah, I don't see a lot of impact of customers pausing on placing analyzers due to the macro. And I think it's mainly because the the value of the analyzers we're placing is much less than, say, an MRI or imaging piece of equipment that's, you know, millions and millions of dollars. I think I think our purchase the equipment purchases that our customers are making kind of fly below the radar to some extent. We also offer, like our competitors do, an alternative to to buying an instrument, and that is a reagent rental where we can place an analyzer at a customer location and charge them the cost of the box over the life of the contract in the form of a surcharge on the consumables. So that's a way of kind of getting around maybe CapEx limitations that a customer may have.</doc> <doc id='7'>Speaker0 And how important is the automation element to customers? You know, how has your integrated analyzer kind of helped in this environment? And I think it's around a third of your installed base now, so how do you think that will track over time? Speaker1 Yeah, for sure automation and the integrated analyzers are super important to our customers and to our strategy of growing the labs business. In fact, you look at the automation, or I should say the growth in the automation and installed base over the last several years, it's typically been in the high single digits and low double digits as indicative of the strategy working. You know, we continue to lead with that integrated analyzer which is going to drive more higher margin immunoassay revenue growth for us. And that's important because if you look at our business relative to where the market is, our mix of immunoassay and routine chemistry is inverted from where the overall market is. And so there's lots of room for us to grow that immunoassay side of the business.</doc> <doc id='8'>And in fact, if you look at our percentage of installed base that's integrated versus nonintegrated, if you go back to when Ortho Clinical Diagnostics went public in 2021, we were around 24% of the base was integrated, and now we're sitting at around 30% of that base, installed base, being integrated. So you can kind of get a feel for the pace of which we're moving and employing that strategy and you can also get a feel for how much room is left to run, how much we can run this strategy out. There's plenty of runway left.</doc> <doc id='9'>Speaker0 And in terms of that kind of immunoassay mix, I guess where do you see the biggest opportunities in the portfolio to keep driving that? Speaker1 Yeah, good question. I think that if you look at where the labs growth is, you know, in the more developed markets of The US and Western Europe, you'll see more, you know, low to mid single digit growth. But when you look in less developed areas like Latin America and Asia Pacific and Eastern Europe, you'll see more high single digits, sometimes low double digit growth. And so we I I look towards those lesser developed markets of Eastern Europe and Asia Pac as the areas where I think there's lots of opportunity for us to to grow that integrated analyzer base and grow that immunoassay business.</doc> <doc id='10'>Speaker0 And if we move on to molecular, you know, how does the planned Flex acquisition kind of expand your footprint there and maybe talk through the strategic rationale for pursuing that route instead of continuing with Savannah.</doc> <doc id='11'>Speaker1 Yeah, it was a really tough decision that we made back in June to pivot from developing Savannah to Lex. Savannah had been a product that Quidel had been working on prior to the combination with ortho for many years and it's it's it's a great product. Savannah, I think, has a lot of potential competitive advantages in the marketplace, but Lex also has some very distinct competitive advantages in the marketplace where we intend to sell it and those advantages I would say are focused on turnaround time, ease of use and cost. And so the decision was made to pivot to Lex primarily because if you look at the amount of time it would take to fill out the menu, the amount of cost it would take to fill out the menu, and the level of technical risk, which is much less in a product like Lex, we decided to discontinue Savannah and focus our resources on Lex because again, we think we can get that menu filled out much faster and for much less cost and a lot less risk. And so we believe that the first panel which was submitted to the FDA which is a respiratory panel in June, we believe that we will get approval for that panel sometime later this year.</doc> <doc id='12'>Speaker0 And maybe what's the timeline for menu expansion there into other respiratory or women's health applications? Just curious, you know, how much there is an opportunity outside of that initial panel.</doc> <doc id='13'>Speaker1 Yeah, there's lots of opportunity to fill out that menu. I think first we'll focus on RSV and strep being added to the panel and then women's health and STI will be next. More to come on specific timelines but yeah, there's plenty of opportunity to fill up that menu and expand.</doc> <doc id='14'>Speaker0 And how do you think about, you know, the overlap with kind of the rest of your portfolio? Is there any potential cannibalization for Sofia? Speaker1 The good news is is that the Lex product can be commercialized through the existing sales force. So there's no need to add any resources to commercialize Lex as we move into early twenty six. They're based on the customer research that we've done, the KOLs we've talked to, we believe there's plenty of room for both a rapid antigen test like Sofia and a molecular product like Lex. And there is some some overlap but I would say it's not not significant at all. It's probably, you know, 10% or less of of overlap and and even that amount of overlap is not overly concerning for us because if there are customers who'd rather use Lex rather than Savannah, the Lex margins are higher.</doc> <doc id='15'>And so that would be some minor amounts of cannibalization that I'd probably welcome from a margin perspective.</doc> <doc id='16'>Speaker0 And you've talked about kind of reinvesting some of your Savannah dollars into Lex, you know, where are those investments mainly concentrated this year and kinda what additional steps are you taking to prepare for that kind of limited commercial launch in the first half of next year? Speaker1 Yeah, we're definitely excited about getting approval on that first panel later this year so we can start a limited commercialization in this first and second quarter twenty six respiratory season. As I said a minute ago, really no need for any additional commercial resources. We've got everything we need. Being the leader in respiratory testing in The US, we've got all the commercial resources that we need to sell that product. I guess the most near term investments might be in the form of not too significant CapEx that will be needed to increase the manufacturing capacity for Lex.</doc> <doc id='17'>There is a line that the company has in The UK right now but will need an additional line either somewhere in The UK again or in The US. Haven't decided that yet but that will be something that will stand up pretty early in '26 so that we can hit the late in the '26, early twenty seven respiratory season with a much more fulsome rollout and commercialization.</doc> <doc id='18'>Speaker0 Okay. And then on point of care, you you lowered the 2025 outlook for COVID revenue coming out of the second quarter. Can you just remind us of the seasonality baked in for the third and fourth quarter and maybe just given the trends that you've seen so far this year, you know, how you think about forecasting, you know, endemic COVID revenues longer term? Speaker1 Yeah. COVID's been been quite the ride. And I I know that there's been a lot of focus on the on the decline of the COVID revenue over the last several years, but I do believe that as a headline conclusion, we've digested most of that decline. When you think about where we were in '21 and '22 with a billion 4 of COVID revenue that's dropped to 400,000,000 and then a 185,000,000 last year, you know, the guidance this year is for 70 to a 100. And if you just pick the midpoint of of that, somewhere you in the mid eighties, I think that's a realistic, very realistic point of of where where the declines end.</doc> <doc id='19'>And, you know, and I can say that with with some confidence because all of the the government order revenue is is gone and the retail business is is fairly small at this point. There's not a whole lot lot left. So most of what's left is the professional use space revenue which has proven to be somewhat consistent and durable. And so we do think that that, you know, call it that midpoint of the 70 to a 100 is probably a good place to think that not only we're gonna end up this year, but where we're gonna go for the next next several years with COVID revenue. So I think all of these views of revenue of ex COVID that we've done for the past couple years, think we're we're really getting to the end of that, which is great news, I know, the buy side and sell side.</doc> <doc id='20'>Speaker0 Yep. Absolutely. Maybe any thoughts on the upcoming flu season? Are there any clues from the Southern Hemisphere around, you know, what this upcoming season could look like relative to historical trends? Speaker1 Yeah. The flu season in the Southern Hemisphere is always a good data point for us and that flu season has turned out to be one that I would define as more typical or average. And so that's good because that's what we've said all along this year is that our guidance for flu revenue is gonna be a typical or average season. And we define that as flu season in terms of volume, 50 to 55,000,000 tests, and the combo test mix being greater than 50% and steady market share. So the new model that we've gone to to project the flu revenue that we went to in '24 has proven out to be a good one.</doc> <doc id='21'>You know, we very close, almost I would say spot on to what we guided the street to for the first half of the year for flu revenue. And so we have a lot of confidence that where we are for the second half of this year is going to be pretty close as well. And and, you know, what we're seeing is that the the patterns for the flu season are getting back to more predictable pre pandemic patterns. The the level of testing is up versus pre pandemic mainly because of the combo test, and we think that combo test is pretty durable given that it's been over 50% of our flu revenue now for two plus years. And so, you know, I think that flu season is, the flu season revenue is getting a little more predictable.</doc> <doc id='22'>So we feel good about where the guidance is for the second half of the year.</doc> <doc id='23'>Speaker0 Yeah. Maybe shifting to transfusion medicine, you know, how should we think about that business following the U. Donor screening wind down and, you know, what's your view on the growth outlook there? Speaker1 Yeah, so as a reminder, the transfusion medicine business unit for us is comprised of the donor screening business, which is primarily the business of screening for infectious disease in the blood supply donations. And we decided to shut down, wind down that business last year because it is a small market, It's lower growth and it's it's got lower margins compared to the rest of our businesses. So we decided to wind it down last year. And, you know, last year we did about a 120,000,000 of revenue. This year it'll be probably 40 to 50,000,000 of revenue.</doc> <doc id='24'>And this business will be fully wound down in early twenty six. And so again, that revenue headwind of the donor screening wind down, which we've had all year, which is down about 40% in the first half of the year, that headwind will go away in the first half of next year and we won't be dealing with that anymore. And the top line revenue growth will be made up more of the base business, which we see as a mid single digit growth business. The other business within transfusion medicine is immunohematology, and that's a business that we really like. That business is global.</doc> <doc id='25'>We're the global number one in terms of market share with that business and we do intend to continue to invest in that business going forward.</doc> <doc id='26'>Speaker0 Yeah. Okay. And maybe on China, there's been a lot of noise there for diagnostics companies, particularly this quarter. It sounds like you've been relatively insulated from some of the unbundling and VBP headwinds that</doc> <doc id='27'>others are seeing. Is that right? And are there any parts of your business that are seeing pressure there? Speaker1 I was waiting for the China questions. I knew they were coming. The we spent a lot of time on this on our last earnings call. Brian, I think, did a great job of of talking about why our business is different from others in our space in in China. And I know a lot of folks like to paint a broad brush with with the China risk, but our business is different, and here's why.</doc> <doc id='28'>First of all, we use a dry slide technology on our lab side, which none