Illumina Stock to Gain From the Launch of New DRAGEN v4.4 Software

Illumina, Inc. ILMN recently unveiled the DRAGEN version 4.4 software (v4.4), the industry's most comprehensive secondary analysis solution. The latest version includes out-of-the-box oncology applications for clinical research, greater accuracy and support for the company’s newly announced multiomics assays.

The DRAGEN v4.4 enhancements are expected to simplify NGS analysis for customers while expanding their capabilities. The University Hospital of Tübingen in Germany is among the first adopters of the latest DRAGEN version for their groundbreaking study to evaluate the clinical utility of advanced secondary analysis on whole-genome germline testing.

ILMN Stock’s Likely Trend Following the News

Since the announcement on May 13, ILMN shares jumped 3.3% to close at $82.95 yesterday. Providing labs with ready-to-use analysis applications simplifies oncology biomarker detection and reduces customer complexities. By integrating with Illumina Connected Insights, the applications enable a streamlined workflow for analysis and interpretation across diverse research areas, including genetic diseases, oncology, multiomics, infectious diseases and population genomics. Accordingly, we expect the latest development to boost market sentiment toward ILMN stock.

Illumina presently has a market capitalization of $13.13 billion. The company’s earnings yield of 5.2% sits comfortably against the industry’s -33.3% yield. It delivered an earnings beat of 56.4%, on average, in the trailing four quarters.

Features of Illumina’s New DRAGEN v4.4

DRAGEN v4.4 will offer "push-button" analysis for oncology workflows, including the first and only commercially available heme WGS application, Solid WGS DNA Tumor-Normal, and pipelines for molecular residual disease (MRD) and WGS analysis, with more coming soon. It will also support the new and emerging multiomics assays, including Illumina Single Cell 3'RNA Prep and Illumina Protein Prep, and in the future will support the anticipated 5-base solution for methylation analysis and Illumina's spatial technology solution.

DRAGEN v4.4 marks a 30% increase in SV calling accuracy — the software's biggest leap to date — driven by advancements in the multigenome mapper with pangenome reference. These advances help close the gap in structural variant calling accuracy between short- and long-read sequencing capabilities. DRAGEN v4.4 introduces a personalized pangenome reference capability that delivers a 20% boost in accuracy of single-nucleotide variant and indel calling. Furthermore, DRAGEN v4.4 supports new AWS F2 instance types, enabling faster turnaround times and improved scalability in the cloud.

Industry Prospects Favor ILMN

Per a Grand View Research report, the global NGS data analysis market was valued at $999.4 million in 2024 and is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of 23.1% by 2030. The rising use of sequencing platforms in clinical diagnosis, due to reduced installation costs, is expected to fuel the market’s growth. 

More Updates From Illumina

This month, Illumina, in collaboration with Ovation.io, Inc., announced the development of the largest commercially available clinical multiomic dataset from 25,000 patients treated with glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist therapies. The dataset will be made available to the pharma community to advance drug discovery and development.

ILMN Stock Price Performance

Over the past three months, ILMN shares have fallen 12% against the industry’s 12.8% growth.

Illumina’s Zacks Rank and Key Picks

Illumina currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked stocks in the broader medical space include Hims & Hers Health HIMS, Phibro Animal Health PAHC and Prestige Consumer Healthcare PBH. Each of these carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Estimates for Hims & Hers Health’s 2025 earnings per share have jumped 21.2% to 63 cents in the past 30 days. Shares of the company have surged 255% in the past year compared with the industry’s 21.2% growth. Its earnings yield of 1.1% compares comfortably with the industry’s -9.7% yield. HIMS’ earnings surpassed estimates in two of the trailing four quarters, matched in one and missed on another occasion, the average surprise being 19.6%.

Phibro Animal Health shares have rallied 31.3% in the past year. Estimates for the company’s fiscal 2025 earnings per share have jumped 3.6% to $2.01 in the past 30 days. PAHC’s earnings beat estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 30.6%. In the last reported quarter, it posted an earnings surprise of 21.2%.

Estimates for Prestige Consumer Healthcare’sfiscal 2026 earnings per share have increased 1 cent to $4.77 in the past 30 days. Shares of the company have jumped 36.8% in the past year compared to the industry’s 10.8% growth. PBH’s earnings surpassed estimates in three of the trailing four quarters and matched on one occasion, the average surprise being 2.8%. In the last reported quarter, it delivered an earnings surprise of 1.5%.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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