NEW YORK – Illumina said on Monday after the close of the market that it expects first quarter revenues for fiscal year 2021 to grow 26 percent, driven by higher sequencing revenues.
For the three months ended March 31, 2021, the San Diego-based firm expects total revenues of approximately $1.09 billion, up from $859 million in the prior-year period and beating the consensus Wall Street estimate of $945.2 million.
"Our core business is exceptionally strong and growing ahead of our expectations. This is reflected in our outstanding preliminary first quarter revenue and, as a result, we are raising our 2021 revenue guidance," Illumina CEO and President Francis deSouza said in a statement.
Illumina raised guidance for full-year 2021 revenue growth to a range of 25 percent to 28 percent.
"We are seeing broad-based acceleration across our core clinical and research applications as more patients, physicians, and researchers than ever access the benefits of next-generation sequencing," deSouza added, noting that the company is experiencing increased demand for its sequencers due to global COVID surveillance programs.
Illumina attributed the revenue growth to record orders of approximately $1.4 billion in the quarter and sequencing revenue growth of approximately 28 percent, year over year.
Sequencing consumables growth grew approximately 25 percent year over year, "demonstrating the solid recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and the strength of our core business," the firm said. "Most customers are now at or above pre-COVID activity levels." Those consumables revenues included approximately $20 million from COVID-19 surveillance.
Sequencing instrument revenues grew 120 percent year over year, reflecting strong performance across all instrument categories, Illumina said. COVID-19 surveillance drove or accelerated instrument purchases, resulting in $35 million in incremental revenue in Q1.
In Tuesday morning trading on the Nasdaq, shares of Illumina rose 8 percent to $417.17.