Illumina Q4 - Strong Revenue Growth

Last week Illumina released fourth-quarter results which fell under the radar. The company had a really good quarter but it is a slightly complicated read because it includes the Grail acquisition. Revenues grew by 26% for the quarter. For the full year, revenues increased by 40%. Gross margins in the quarter had increased from 66.1% to 68.12%. Good companies can push price increases onto their clients in an inflationary environment.

The CEO Francis deSouza had the following to say about the quarter.

"We are seeing strength across our business as a growing number of patients around the world are accessing the life-saving benefits of genomics, from oncology therapy selection to genetic disease testing and pathogen surveillance. Opportunities are also expanding across new markets like proteomics, infectious disease and drug discovery."

The company made $5 a share which puts it on 66 times earnings. We believe the era of genome sequencing is still in its infancy. It is very exciting to see new areas of growth popping up. Drug discovery and infectious diseases are more recent sectors for them, spurred on by a global pandemic.

Illumina is in the "Future Heroes" camp. Heroes do not come easy and we need to be patient with it. We are buyers of the stock at these levels.