Bio-Techne Corporation TECH recently announced Asuragen’s — a Bio-Techne brand —partnership with Oxford Nanopore Technologies to launch the AmplideX Nanopore Carrier Plus Kit. The research-use-only AmplideX Nanopore Carrier Plus Kit is a new genetic panel that will support software analysis for carrier screening research.  

The latest partnership is expected to bolster the company’s Diagnostics and Spatial Biology segment.

TECH Stock Likely to Gain From the Development

Since the announcement, Bio-Techne’s shares have dipped 0.9%, closing at $61.19 in yesterday’s session.  

Asuragen brand is well known for its designed, high-quality molecular diagnostic products. The Asuragen kit business continues to gain strong momentum. Asuragen’s recent partnership with Oxford Nanopore Technologies accurately delivers an ideal solution for labs looking to provide superior and cost-effective carrier screening research results. Accordingly, we expect the latest partnership to boost the market sentiment toward TECH stock in the upcoming days.

Bio-Techne has a market capitalization of $9.76 billion. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal 2025 earnings indicates a 6.8% year-over-year increase on a 5.5% revenue improvement. In the trailing four quarters, it delivered an average earnings surprise of 5.37%. 

Importance of AmplideX Nanopore Carrier Plus Kit

In 2021, the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (“ACMG”) updated its recommendations for carrier screening to include the genes that cannot be analyzed by standard short-read sequencing. Until now, laboratories have relied on multiple test technologies, including MLPA, Sanger sequencing, qPCR, long-range PCR and others, to analyze the recommended genes.

The AmplideX Nanopore Carrier Plus Kit provides a single streamlined method and delivers comprehensive sequencing data compared to alternative assays. By combining novel AmplideX long-range PCR with nanopore long reads, it directly captures large genomic variants. The 11-gene panel includes the most prevalent recommended genes that cannot be detected accurately with legacy short-read sequencing methods. 

Henceforth, it will help labs replace a patchwork testing approach with a single workflow to simplify sample-to-answer results. The kit also includes software to enable straightforward analysis without the need for advanced bioinformatics resources. The kit targets genes like CFTR, CYP21A2, F8 inversions, FMR1, GBA, HBA1, HBA2, HBB, SMN1, SMN2 and TNXB.

Industry Prospects Favor Bio-Tech

Per a report by TechSci Research, the global Nanopore Sequencing market was valued at $330.59 million in 2023 and is expected to witness a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.07% through 2029. The key factors driving the market growth include the increasing demand for DNA sequencing stems and technological advancements, which provide distinct benefits compared to traditional techniques.

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Another Development by TECH’s Asuragen Brand

In December 2024, Asuragen launched a highly sensitive ESR1 mutation monitoring assay. ESR1 gene mutations are known to be linked to hormone receptor-positive (HR+) metastatic breast cancer. The new ESR1 mutation assay, featuring the QuantideX qPCR ESR1 exoMutation Kit paired with the ExoLution Plus cfDNA + exoRNA Isolation Kit, is designed to detect 11 ESR1 ligand-binding domain mutations in samples at very high sensitivity.

TECH Stock Price Performance

In the past year, TECH’s shares have declined 18.3% compared with the industry’s decline of 8.1%.

TECH’s Zacks Rank and Key Picks

Bio-Techne currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked stocks in the broader medical space are Masimo MASI, Boston Scientific BSX and Cardinal Health CAH. At present, Masimo carries a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), whereas Boston Scientific and Cardinal Health carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) each. 

Masimo’s shares have rallied 50.4% in the past year. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Estimates for MASI’s 2025 earnings per share (EPS) have increased 10% to $5.07 in the past 30 days. MASI’s earnings beat estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 14.41%. In the last reported quarter, it posted an earnings surprise of 20.8%.

Estimates for Boston Scientific’s 2025 EPS have jumped 2.9% to $2.85 in the past 30 days. Shares of the company have surged 55.5% in the past year compared with the industry’s growth of 6.5%. BSX’s earnings surpassed estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 8.25%. In the last reported quarter, it delivered an earnings surprise of 7.7%.

Estimates for Cardinal Health’s fiscal 2025 EPS have increased 1.8% to $7.94 in the past 30 days. Shares of the company have jumped 14.7% in the past year against the industry’s 6.5% decline. CAH’s earnings surpassed estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 9.64%. In the last reported quarter, it delivered an earnings surprise of 10.3%.

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