NEW YORK ─ Shares of Luminex rose as much as 16 percent in Thursday trading on the Nasdaq following a report that DiaSorin is considering acquiring it.
The company's shares finished Thursday up almost 10 percent at $32.99.
DiaSorin's shares rose by more than 3 percent to €163.70 ($200) on the Italian stock exchange in Milan.
Investor demand drove up the share prices after Bloomberg, citing unnamed sources, reported on Thursday that DiaSorin is working with advisors to evaluate a potential acquisition of Austin, Texas-based Luminex.
It and Saluggia, Italy-based DiaSorin declined to comment on the report.
Along with DiaSorin, Luminex's main competitors include BioMérieux's BioFire Diagnostics, Qiagen, and GenMark Diagnostics.
Diagnostic companies, with more cash available driven by the demand for coronavirus diagnostic testing, are carefully considering acquisitions. GenMark's shares surged more than 27 percent to $21.49 on Feb. 11 based on rumors that it was being approached by potential acquirers.
In January, Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that it plans to acquire point-of-care molecular diagnostics firm Mesa Biotech for up to $550 million, and PerkinElmer said it will acquire Oxford Immunotec for about $591 million.
Shares of Luminex were down more than 4 percent to $31.52 in Friday morning trading on the Nasdaq.