Illumina Plunges On Weak Sales Outlook

(RTTNews) - Illumina Inc. (ILMN) Monday said it expects third-quarter revenue of about $550 million, a 14 percent increase from last year. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters currently estimate revenues of $568.6 million for the quarter. Shares of the company plunged 14 percent in the after-hours trading following the news.

"Demand for sequencing consumables and the HiSeq family of instruments remained strong during the quarter, while instrument sales in the desktop family underperformed our expectations," stated Jay Flatley, CEO. "Geographically, we were disappointed with instrument sales in Europe and continued weakness in the Asia-Pacific region."

For fiscal year 2015, the company now projects about 18 percent revenue growth and fourth quarter revenue of about $570 million. Analysts currently estimate 20.90 percent growth for full year and 602.83 million for the fourth quarter.

Shares of the company closed Monday's trading at $163.17, down $0.44 or 0.27%, on the Nasdaq. The stock further plunged $22.92 or 14.05% in the after-hours trading.