QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) management highlighted cost savings progress, steady underlying demand in its core Labs business, and an expanding product pipeline during the company’s fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 earnings call held Feb. 11, 2026. Executives also outlined 2026 guidance that calls for modest revenue growth, further margin expansion, and improved free cash flow, while acknowledging continued volatility in respiratory testing demand.
2025 results: mid-single-digit growth in Labs, margin expansion
CEO Brian Blaser said the company’s work over the past year centered on three priorities: putting customers at the center of the business, strengthening operational and financial performance, and accelerating product development. Blaser said actions taken to date have generated $140 million in cost savings, expanded adjusted EBITDA margins to the low 20% range, and improved financial flexibility.
For the full year, the company reported $2.73 billion in revenue. Excluding donor screening, non-respiratory revenue grew 5%, and the Labs business grew 6% for the year, representing 55% of total company revenue. Respiratory revenue totaled $402 million for the year, with management attributing the decline primarily to lower COVID testing.
Busky said operating expenses declined 5% for the full year due to cost savings initiatives. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 22% for 2025, a 240 basis point improvement over the prior year. Adjusted diluted EPS was $0.46 in Q4 and $2.12 for the full year, which Busky said represented 15% growth year over year.
Management also discussed a significant non-cash goodwill impairment recorded in Q3. Blaser described it as an “accounting reset” tied to post-pandemic market valuations, while Busky said the $701 million non-cash impairment charge reset goodwill and should allow forward GAAP earnings to more closely track operational performance.
Segment and regional performance
On a constant-currency basis, Busky detailed business unit performance:
- Labs: up 7% in Q4 and 6% for the full year, driven by continued strength in clinical chemistry.
- Immunohematology: up 3% for the full year, with management citing continued leading global market positions.
- Triage: up 16% in Q4 and 7% for the full year, reflecting expanding adoption and execution.
- Respiratory: down 14% in Q4 and 20% for the full year due to lower COVID testing; flu revenue increased 6% in Q4 and 3% for the year.
Regionally, excluding COVID revenue, North America was up 4% in Q4 but down 2% for the year, which management said was expected due to the winddown of the U.S. donor screening business. Europe, Middle East and Africa was flat in Q4 and up 4% for the year, while Busky noted adjusted EBITDA margins in the region improved by more than 900 basis points. Latin America rose 17% in Q4 and 18% for the year, Japan/Asia-Pacific increased 4% in Q4 and 6% for the year, and China grew 5% in Q4 and 3% for the year.
R&D updates: FDA clearances and 2026 pipeline
Chief Technology Officer Jonathan Siegrist said the company upgraded talent, modernized R&D processes, and focused on a smaller set of higher-impact programs. In Q4, he said QuidelOrtho received FDA clearance for a high-sensitivity Troponin I assay on the VITROS platform, with U.S. shipments expected to begin “within the next few weeks.” The company also received FDA clearance for its DAT direct anticoagulant test card on the Vision Immunohematology platform. Siegrist said that, combined with the previously cleared Ortho Elution Kit, QuidelOrtho now offers what it described as the only complete gel-based DAT solution from polyspecific to monospecific.
Siegrist also noted the 2025 launch of QuidelOrtho Results Manager, an informatics middleware solution for the Labs business that management plans to expand to Immunohematology and Point of Care.
Looking to 2026, Siegrist said the company expects multiple platform launches enabled by a mix of organic R&D and strategic partnerships. He outlined plans to launch VITROS 450, the first new VITROS platform since 2019 and a successor to VITROS 350, designed for key OUS markets and built on the company’s waterless dry slide chemistry. He also described plans for new partner immunoassay platforms in OUS markets that could expand menu access with more than 25 new assays not currently available on VITROS, within a total menu of more than 70 assays on the partner systems.
In molecular diagnostics, management said Lex is in the final stages of its 510(k) and CLIA waiver FDA review for the Lex platform. Siegrist said it is designed to deliver speed and sensitivity with true PCR chemistry and an automated swab-to-result system for point of care. In Q&A, he said the review is taking longer than hoped but is “not unexpected” for a new platform and that there are “no issues” the company sees at the moment.
Margins, cash flow, and balance sheet
Busky said fourth-quarter adjusted gross margin was 44.9%, down from 46.8% a year earlier, due to tariffs, higher instrument placements, and product mix. For the full year, adjusted gross margin improved 40 basis points to 47.4%, driven by cost mitigations offset by tariff impacts. For 2026, the company guided to gross margin “relatively flat” versus 2025, citing additional tariff impacts and product mix, while expecting direct procurement initiatives to contribute more meaningfully over time.
On cash flow, QuidelOrtho generated $87 million of free cash flow in Q4, or $135 million excluding one-time cash items. For the full year, the company used $77 million in free cash flow, but generated $100 million in recurring free cash flow (17% of adjusted EBITDA) after excluding one-time items. Busky said the shortfall versus the company’s 25% conversion goal was driven by $15 million to $20 million of ERP-related accounts receivable and about $20 million of late-quarter sales that pushed collections into January 2026; he said both were collected in January.
The company ended the year with $170 million in cash and $80 million in borrowings under its $700 million revolving credit facility. Net debt to adjusted EBITDA was 4.2x at year-end, which Busky said was above target due to the cash collection timing.
2026 outlook and leadership update
For 2026, management guided to revenue of $2.7 billion to $2.9 billion with quarterly phasing similar to 2025 and FX expected to be neutral based on January 2026 rates. The company expects Labs to grow mid-single digits and Immunohematology low single digits, while the U.S. donor screening winddown is expected to be “substantially complete” by mid-year. Point-of-care growth is assumed to be relatively flat at the midpoint, based on what management described as a typical flu season, and COVID revenue is expected to be $80 million for the year. The company also expects high-single-digit Triage cardiac growth, and a slight decline in molecular due to discontinuation of the Savanna business in connection with the planned Lex Diagnostics acquisition; management assumed minimal Lex revenue in 2026 and included dilution in guidance.
QuidelOrtho guided to adjusted EBITDA of $630 million to $670 million, implying adjusted EBITDA margin of about 23.3%, and adjusted diluted EPS of $2.00 to $2.42. Busky said EPS is pressured by roughly $20 million of higher depreciation versus 2025, tied to growth in instrument reagent rental agreements and capitalized systems investments, including ERP conversions. Free cash flow is expected to be $120 million to $160 million, including $50 million to $60 million of one-time cash uses associated with a New Jersey facility consolidation and direct procurement initiatives. Interest expense is expected to be about $200 million, capex $150 million to $170 million, and the effective tax rate about 24%.
Blaser also announced Busky will retire as CFO in June, and the company has initiated a search for a successor.
About QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL)
QuidelOrtho is a global diagnostics company formed through the merger of Quidel Corporation and Ortho Clinical Diagnostics. The combined entity develops, manufactures and markets a broad portfolio of rapid and high-throughput diagnostic solutions across immunoassay, molecular diagnostics and transfusion medicine. Its offerings span point-of-care platforms for acute care testing as well as large-scale automated systems designed for clinical laboratories and blood banks.
The company’s product range includes rapid antigen and antibody tests for infectious diseases, molecular assays utilizing nucleic acid amplification technology, and integrated immunodiagnostic analyzers.
