Life Tech to Speak at Conference (ILMN) (LIFE) (TMO)

Zacks

Life Technologies Corporation (LIFE) will be presenting at the UBS 2011 Global Life Science Conference on Tuesday, September 20, 2011.

The last reported quarter has been quite disappointing due to tighter budgets for academic and government-funded research in both the US and Europe, delays in the launch of the 5500 Genetic Analyzer in Japan due to the earthquake and temporary slack in business in China. We expect the company to share its plans of portfolio expansion and other initiatives for the long term.

In order to drive growth in emerging markets, the company adopts strategies such as investment in infrastructure, increasing sales force and maximizing eCommerce capability. The company has opened the India Distribution Center (IDC) in Bangalore to cater to customer demand in the South Asian Region.

These strategies coupled with continuous investments in AsiaPacific and Latin America should enable the company to capture the immense potential of these fast-growing regions. Although business in China witnessed some slackness during the reported quarter, the company is confident of higher growth over the next few quarters.

Life Technologies continues to experience lower demand from academic and government-funded researchers in the US and Europe. Although the company does not expect the funding situation to worsen, it has adopted a cautious stand and expects soft demand in both the US and Europe government-funded research for the rest of 2011. To manage the impact of this scenario on the bottom line, Life Technologies has taken the cost structure optimization route to boost efficiency.

The company is stepping up a number of cost savings initiatives that were originally planned to begin later in 2011, so that it emerges stronger in 2012. These initiatives are expected to result in margin expansion gradually based on which Life Technologies expects to record mid-single digit revenue growth and double-digit earnings growth in 2012.

Although the global economic condition is improving gradually, any hiccup in the recovery process could act as a deterrent. Moreover, Life Technologies faces tough competition from players such as Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO) and Illumina (ILMN) among others.

We currently have a Neutral recommendation on the stock, which also corresponds to Zacks #3 Rank (Hold) in the short term.

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