NEW YORK, May 21, 2026, 09:11 (EDT)
Bio-Techne Corp is coming into Thursday’s U.S. session with shares up for three days. The stock finished Wednesday at $46.70, gaining 2.7%. As of the dateline, the regular Nasdaq session was still ahead. Nasdaq’s standard hours run 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern. Its next scheduled May 2026 closing is Memorial Day on May 25.
BIO-TECHNE STAYS UNDER PRESSURE AS RALLY FIZZLES
The rally is still a repair move right now. Bio-Techne is well under its January peak, with investors cutting the stock this month after fiscal Q3 sales came in below forecasts.
Bio-Techne said May 6 that reported revenue dropped 2% to $311.4 million in the quarter ended March 31, with organic revenue also down 2%. The company said organic revenue, which strips out currency and portfolio moves, was hit by last year’s fast-track manufacturing orders and shifting timing of large commercial supply shipments.
Stocks pushed higher Wednesday. The S&P 500 climbed 1.1%, the Dow added 1.3%, and the Nasdaq composite gained 1.5%. Falling Treasury yields and a drop in oil prices helped lift equities.
Bio-Techne traded ahead of some neighboring healthcare stocks in the session. Charles River Laboratories added 2.4%. Bio-Techne is still sitting about 35% under its Jan. 22 52-week peak of $72.16, even after Wednesday’s move, MarketWatch said.
The main issue is if slow demand from emerging biotech clients is just a short-term dip or something longer-lasting. After reporting earnings on May 6, Reuters said Bio-Techne missed analyst revenue targets. The company blamed weaker demand after U.S. academic funding cuts hit sales of its research and drug development products.
Chief Executive Kim Kelderman called the quarter uneven rather than broken. “Large pharma again led results with the sixth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth,” he said in the earnings release. Kelderman said biotech funding “has not yet translated into broad-based demand across our portfolio.” PR Newswire
Kelderman told analysts the academic market has gotten better but problems remain. “It’s still a frail market,” he said on the earnings call, and said a V-shaped recovery isn’t likely. Chief Financial Officer James Hippel said weakness in emerging biotech is “the biggest swing factor” for speeding up growth. The Motley Fool
Bio-Techne’s big bull case may be Wilson Wolf, even if revenue is soft in the short term. RBC Capital Markets’ Dan Leonard resumed coverage at Outperform. Leonard said the company’s plan to fully buy Wilson Wolf isn’t getting enough credit, according to Investing.com. Wilson Wolf sells gear used to make cell therapy products. Cell therapy uses living cells, sometimes from the patient.
Bio-Techne owns 20% of Wilson Wolf and has options to buy more. Under the agreement, Bio-Techne put in $257 million for that stake, with an option to pick up the rest if Wilson Wolf meets certain revenue or EBITDA targets. EBITDA, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, tracks operating cash profit.
Bio-Techne still sees a “Moderate Buy” rating from 14 analysts tracked by MarketBeat, but with some caution lingering. The average 12-month price target sits at $65.92, which is higher than where shares finished Wednesday. MarketBeat
But the rebound may lose steam if research budgets remain limited or if biotech funding keeps moving into later-stage clinical trials instead of early discovery, which is where Bio-Techne supplies many key reagents and assays. A soft fourth quarter, another timing gap in orders, or slower progress with Wilson Wolf would make the stock’s recent jump seem more like short covering than a shift in the company’s fundamentals.
