Illumina's Stock Soars Toward Best Gain In 5 Years After Upbeat Sales Outlook, Product Upgrade

Shares of Illumina Inc. soared 16% in active morning trade Tuesday, putting them on track for the biggest one-day percentage gain in five years, after the DNA sequencing company provided late Monday an upbeat sales outlook and revealed upgraded sequencing platform. Volume neared 2 million shares in the first half hour since the open, already exceeding the full-day average of about 1.4 million shares. The company said at J.P. Morgan's healthcare conference that it expects fourth-quarter sales of $619 million, according to a transcript provided by FactSet, which was above the FactSet consensus of $612.8 million. The company expects 2017 revenue growth of 10% to 12%, while the FactSet consensus implies growth of 10%. Separately, Illumina introduced its NovaSeq next-generation gene sequencing architecture, which J.P. Morgan analyst Tycho Peterson said holds the potential "to spark a major upgrade cycle." The stock has lost 0.9% over the past 12 months, while the SPDR Health Care Select Sector ETF has gained 4.8% and the S&P 500 has climbed 18%.