Shares of the Ortho Clinical Diagnostics Holdings plc (OCDX) stock were rising in the current market today on December 23, 2021. OCDX stock price saw a push of 7.12% to reach $21.22 a share at the time of this writing. The stock was also green in the previous trade and went up by 1.54% at closing. Let’s dig in to understand the reason behind this bull.

What’s Happening?

OCDX stock became bullish after the news appeared that the Quidel Corporation signed the definitive agreement with Ortho Clinical Diagnostics Holdings plc. According to the agreement, Quidel will acquire Ortho Clinical for $24.68 per share of common OCDX stock. The transaction will be in the form of cash and newly issued shares of the combined company. This represents the premium of 25% over the closing price of the OCDX stock on December 22, 2021, and a $6.0 billion equity value. After the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, the transaction is likely to close within the first half of 2022.

Financial Results of OCDX stock

In the first week of the previous month, Ortho announced third quarter 2021 financial results according to which

• Net revenue of the company was $522.5 million in the third quarter ended October 3, 2021. Net revenue in the quarter ended September 27, 2020, was $451.1 million. Core revenue of the company surged from $443.3 million in Q3,2020 to $508.9 million in Q3,2021.
• The company reported an adjusted net income of $50.9 million in the third quarter of 2021 as compared to $21.0 million in the same quarter of last year. Adjusted net income per share for the OCDX stock was $0.21 in Q3,2021 as compared to $0.14 per share in Q3,2020.
• Adjusted free cash flow increased from $30.0 million in the third quarter of 2020 to $56.3 million in the third quarter of 2021.
• The company reported an adjusted EBITDA of $139.6 million in the third quarter of 2021. This represents an increase of 16.8% from adjusted EBITDA of $119.5 million in the same quarter of last year.
• By the end of the third quarter, Ortho had $255.9 million in cash and cash equivalents.

Outlook of OCDX stock

The company has raised the financial guidance for the fiscal year 2021 according to which it expects

• Core revenue between $2.00 to $2.02 billion.
• Adjusted EBITDA in the range of $542 to $547 million.
• Adjusted EBITDA growth of 19% to 20%.
• Adjusted diluted EPS will be between $0.76 to $0.78

The raised financial guidance reflects the positive growth of the company which is a good sign for shareholders of the OCDX stock.