Illumina's Stock Plunges After Disappointing Sales Outlook

Illumina Inc.'s stock plunged 15% in after-hours trade Monday, after the DNA sequencing and technology company announced disappointing preliminary sales for the latest quarter, and provided a downbeat outlook for the fourth quarter. The company said it estimates third-quarter revenue to be $550 million, up 14% from a year ago, but below the FactSet consensus of $569 million. Revenue for the fourth quarter is expected to be $570 million, compared with the FactSet consensus of $603 million. The company said that while demand for sequencing consumables and its HiSeq family of instruments remained strong during the quarter ended September, instrument sales in the desktop family underperformed expectations. "Geographically, we were disappointed with instrument sales in Europe and continued weakness in the Asia-Pacific region," Chief Executive Jay Flatley said. The stock had lost 8.6% over the past three months through Monday's close, while the S&P 500 had slipped 4.3%.