Sian Capital Urges OPKO Health to Address Apparently Misleading 4Q’20 Guidance
NEW YORK, Jan. 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sian Capital, LLC (together with its affiliates, “Sian” or “we”), a sizable stockholder of OPKO Health, Inc. (NASDAQ: OPK) (“OPKO” or the “Company”), today announced that it sent a letter to the Company’s Board of Directors (the “Board”) on December 18, 2020 regarding what we believe is the dubious 4Q’20 guidance provided by management on October 29, 2020. Sian wants all analysts and stockholders to be aware that we believe OPKO’s previously issued guidance is misleading. We are calling on OPKO to confirm whether it still stands by its projections or agrees with our estimates.
Please be advised that OPKO’s management will be hosting one-on-one meetings with investors and presenting at the 39th Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference on Wednesday, January 13th at 3:40 p.m. Eastern. We encourage analysts and investors to review our estimates against OPKO’s guidance and ask management whether it stands by the Company’s 4Q’20 guidance. Given that we believe Sian correctly predicted OPKO’s 3Q’20 financial results before they were announced, we remain very confident that our current analysis of OPKO’s 4Q’20 financials is accurate.
The below table outlines guidance OPKO provided on its October 29, 2020 conference call compared to the conservative guidance estimates Sian released on November 12, 2020. Our analysis leads us to believe that OPKO under-guided 4Q’20 growth by 26.3%.
| EBITDA | Serology Tests | PCR Tests | COVID-19 Tests* | |
| OPKO 4Q’20 Guidance | $20-30 million | 300,000 | 2.9-3.5 million | 3.2-3.8 million |
| Sian's Estimate | $30-40 million | 300,000 | 3.9-4.5 million | 4.2-4.8 million |
*OPKO's "COVID-19 testing guide" includes Serology and PCR Tests.
The day after OPKO announced its projections, the stock price dropped 20%. In stark contrast, OPKO’s stock price increased 25% in the weeks after we released our 4Q’20 estimates on November 12, 2020.
In our White Paper on OPKO’s fundamental value, we refute OPKO’s guidance in detail and provide, in our view, a more accurate guide using public data, the Company’s commentary, public competitors, competitors in the supply chain, government statistics and independent market analysis. We view OPKO’s 4Q’20 guidance as unfathomable and urge analysts and investors to ask management today whether the Company:
- Disagrees with our analysis and stands by its original 4Q’20 guidance, or
- Agrees with our analysis and admits its original 4Q’20 guidance was incorrect.
In closing, Sian remains open and willing to engage with OPKO regarding its ideas for high-potential opportunities in the marketplace. Unfortunately, it seems management is no longer interested in engaging with us after ignoring our latest attempts to try to work collaboratively to drive stockholder value. We find it troubling that management would seemingly rather spend investor resources fighting one of its largest stockholders instead of resuming productive discussions with us.
For those interested in learning more about the value opportunity at OPKO, visit www.SianCapital.com/Resources. We have provided Sian’s projected 2021 guidance for the Company. Despite recent events, we remain encouraged by the numerous growth prospects for OPKO and its stockholders in 2021.
About Sian Capital
Founded by veteran portfolio manager Anish Monga, Sian Capital, LLC is a New York-based asset management firm that employs a focused, event-driven investment approach. Sian’s unique mix of cross-sector experience and activism expertise enables it to identify and invest in what are often overlooked or under-covered investment opportunities.
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