Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) Still Growing at Double-Digit Rate

March 21, 2016

Bryan Brokmeier, Senior Equity Research Analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald, says Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) has been taking on initiatives in the oncology market, driving growth around 30% each quarter.

Illumina has recently introduced new oncology panels that will increasingly compete with Thermo Fisher and is an area with a lot of growth […] We can start to see acceleration as they get these panels on the market and form new partnerships with additional biopharma companies as well as the academic market.

Liquid biopsies are one particular area where Illumina has been investing and recently announced an acceleration of that investment through the formation of its subsidiary, GRAIL. GRAIL seeks to accelerate the development of a cancer screening test using circulating tumor DNA.

Bryan Brokmeier

Brokmeier says that while there are many companies investing in liquid biopsies, they are many years away from developing screen tests.

Illumina is really one of the leaders and bellwethers of the industry, but the stock has pulled back significantly because of reimbursement concerns, and expectations for growth aren’t as strong as they were two years ago. But they are still growing at a double-digit rate, which is unheard of for a large-cap company in the tools space.

If large-cap growth investors are looking for a tools company, the only option they have available to them really is Illumina. They have such a strong foothold on the market, and as they focus on the oncology market on the research and the biopharma side and increasingly penetrate clinical markets, we believe there is a significant growth opportunity to continue to expand on the success they have already had.

[Liquid biopsy] is an estimated $20-plus billion market opportunity, and Illumina recently said it may turn out to be a $200 billion market opportunity.