Illumina
ILMN on Nasdaq. Illumina sells machines that read DNA and supplies for them to labs and hospitals. Market value $44.3bn.
Price checks use the past 12 months to June 2026. Quality checks use five annual reports, the latest for the year to December 2025.
We can't read total debt from the filing, so debt is left out.
Should I look at this?
Not a fit for our list right now
Why it could be worth it
See Health care stocks that passed both tests
This is not advice. Check the numbers below.
For every $100 of what the whole company costs, it produced $2.25 of spare cash in the past 12 months. A savings account pays about $4.
The filings do not give us enough to work this out.
The filings do not give us enough to work this out.
Quality score: 60 of 100. Price score: 40 of 100. Our list needs 70 on quality and 60 on price.
$273.54 a share, 211% above its 1-year low
Over the past year the price has ranged from $88.00 to $309.35.
Pays no dividend
Prices from Tuesday’s close (6 October).
Five years of cash, in billions
| Revenue | |||||
| Revenue | $4.5bn | $4.6bn | $4.5bn | $4.4bn | $4.3bn |
| Operating margin | |||||
| Operating margin | -2.7% | -91.2% | -23.7% | -19.1% | 18.6% |
| Debt to equity | |||||
| Debt to equity | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Shares outstanding | |||||
| Shares outstanding | 0.16bn | 0.16bn | 0.16bn | 0.15bn | 0.15bn |
Health checks
- Free cash flow positive5 of 5 years
- Accounting looks honest (Beneish)Not enough data
- Financial strength (Piotroski)7 of 8 checks we could run
- Profit backed by cash (accruals)Yes
- DebtUnknown
- Revenue growth, five yearsSlow, 6.1% a year
- Buying back its own sharesYes, 4% fewer since 2021
The quarter to June 2026
How the business did, compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
- Sales: $1.2 billion last quarter, up 9% on a year ago.
- Profit: $207 million, down 12% on a year ago.
- It keeps 20 cents of each $1 of sales as operating profit, down from 30 cents a year earlier.
- Spare cash over the past 12 months: $931 million, down from $1 billion.
- 3% fewer shares than a year ago. Each share owns a bit more of the company.
- Sales grew on a year ago in each of the last 4 quarters.
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| September 2024 | $1.1bn |
| December 2024 | $1.1bn |
| March 2025 | $1.0bn |
| June 2025 | $1.1bn |
| September 2025 | $1.1bn |
| December 2025 | $1.2bn |
| March 2026 | $1.1bn |
| June 2026 | $1.2bn |
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| September 2024 | $705m |
| December 2024 | $186m |
| March 2025 | $131m |
| June 2025 | $235m |
| September 2025 | $150m |
| December 2025 | $334m |
| March 2026 | $134m |
| June 2026 | $207m |
From the company's quarterly reports to the SEC.
Dates
- Next results (estimated)
- 29 October 2026
- Last annual report (10-K)
- 12 February 2026
- Next quarterly (estimated, 10-Q)
- 30 October 2026
Who owns it
9 long-term investors we follow own it, down from 10 last quarter. 935 funds in all.
| Fund | Value | Share of that fund | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corvex ManagementKeith Meister | $498m | 15.5% | Cut |
| Letko BrosseauLetko Brosseau team | $146m | 2.2% | Cut |
| GuardCap Asset ManagementGuardCap team | $129m | 9.2% | Cut |
| Gotham Asset ManagementJoel Greenblatt | $63m | 0.1% | Added |
| Patient Capital ManagementSamantha McLemore | $61m | 2.0% | Cut |
| Diamond Hill Capital ManagementRic Dillon (founder) | $53m | 0.4% | Cut |
| Century ManagementArnold Van Den Berg | $8m | 1.6% | Cut |
| First Manhattan Co.First Manhattan partners | $2m | <0.1% | Added |
| LSV Asset ManagementJosef Lakonishok | $2m | <0.1% | Cut |
Sold out this quarter
Largest holders overall
- BlackRock$3.4bn
- Capital World Investors$2.7bn
- Vanguard Portfolio Management$1.2bnCut
- Vanguard Capital Management$1.2bn
- State Street$1.1bn
- WCM Investment Management$1.1bnAdded
- FMR$795mAdded
- AQR Capital Management$623mCut
- Primecap Management$618mAdded
- Geode Capital Management$517mCut
From 13F filings for the quarter ended 30 June 2026.
Big holders and activists
2 investors own more than 5%.
- Capital World InvestorsPassive investor10.3%−2.9 ptsSince 31 March 2026
- Vanguard Capital ManagementPassive investor5.2%Since 31 March 2026
- The Vanguard GroupPassive investorSold down below 5%Since 13 March 2026
| Holder | Stake | Since | |
|---|---|---|---|
Capital World Investors Passive investor | 10.3%−2.9 pts | 31 March 2026 | |
Vanguard Capital Management Passive investor | 5.2% | 31 March 2026 | |
The Vanguard Group Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 13 March 2026 |
From Schedule 13D and 13G filings: anyone owning more than 5% must file one.
What insiders did
In the last 12 months, 1 insider bought $84,627 of shares on the open market. 5 sold $593m, $2m of it under preset trading plans.
- Meister Keith A.DirectorSold
- Date
- 4 September 2026
- Shares
- 119,501
- Price
- $218.40
- Value
- $26m
- Meister Keith A.DirectorSold
- Date
- 3 September 2026
- Shares
- 75,951
- Price
- $218.23
- Value
- $17m
- Meister Keith A.DirectorSold
- Date
- 2 September 2026
- Shares
- 68,108
- Price
- $213.28
- Value
- $15m
- Meister Keith A.DirectorSold
- Date
- 27 August 2026
- Shares
- 138,379
- Price
- $228.89
- Value
- $32m
- Meister Keith A.DirectorSold
- Date
- 26 August 2026
- Shares
- 106,543
- Price
- $225.46
- Value
- $24m
- Meister Keith A.DirectorSold
- Date
- 25 August 2026
- Shares
- 131,019
- Price
- $225.51
- Value
- $30m
- Meister Keith A.DirectorSold
- Date
- 21 August 2026
- Shares
- 299,336
- Price
- $217.96
- Value
- $65m
- Meister Keith A.DirectorSold
- Date
- 20 August 2026
- Shares
- 285,238
- Price
- $213.86
- Value
- $61m
- Meister Keith A.DirectorSold
- Date
- 19 August 2026
- Shares
- 95,000
- Price
- $203.29
- Value
- $19m
- Wedel Christensen JakobSVP, Strategy/Corp DevelopmentSoldunder a preset trading plan
- Date
- 18 August 2026
- Shares
- 1,033
- Price
- $191.52
- Value
- $197,840
| Date | Who | Did | Shares | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 September 2026 | Meister Keith A. Director | Sold | 119,501 | $218.40 | $26m |
| 3 September 2026 | Meister Keith A. Director | Sold | 75,951 | $218.23 | $17m |
| 2 September 2026 | Meister Keith A. Director | Sold | 68,108 | $213.28 | $15m |
| 27 August 2026 | Meister Keith A. Director | Sold | 138,379 | $228.89 | $32m |
| 26 August 2026 | Meister Keith A. Director | Sold | 106,543 | $225.46 | $24m |
| 25 August 2026 | Meister Keith A. Director | Sold | 131,019 | $225.51 | $30m |
| 21 August 2026 | Meister Keith A. Director | Sold | 299,336 | $217.96 | $65m |
| 20 August 2026 | Meister Keith A. Director | Sold | 285,238 | $213.86 | $61m |
| 19 August 2026 | Meister Keith A. Director | Sold | 95,000 | $203.29 | $19m |
| 18 August 2026 | Wedel Christensen Jakob SVP, Strategy/Corp Development | Sold under a preset trading plan | 1,033 | $191.52 | $197,840 |
From Form 4 filings: insiders must report trades in their own company's shares within two days.
Warning signs in its filings
Problems the company itself reported to the SEC, in its own words.
None of the warning signs we check for were found.
We look for five warning signs: doubt it can keep going, weak checks on its own accounts, a notice that its past accounts can't be relied on, a change of auditor, and one customer bringing in a big share of sales. We don't check lawsuits, investigations or debt yet.
We checked the auditor's report, internal controls, restatement notices, auditor changes and big customers in the 10-K filed 12 Feb 2026, plus the 10-Q filed 31 Jul 2026 and 9 later 8-Ks.
A 10-K is the yearly report every US company files with the SEC. An 8-K is a short notice of a big event.
What could go wrong
Cheap for a reason is the question the numbers cannot answer.
Whether the price already reflects the risks is what the deep dive is for.
The deep dive
Everything above is arithmetic on public filings. The deep dive reads the last ten years of annual reports, the proxy statements, and the earnings calls, then argues the case the way Buffett, Klarman, and Hohn would, and checks every claim against the source.
- What the business is worth, as a range, and the margin of safety at today’s price
- Prices to start buying, buy, and buy hard
- The three things that would make this a mistake
- Every number footnoted to the filing it came from
Your first deep dive is free.
Not advice. Numbers on this page come from SEC filings and are updated each night; prices are updated again after the US market closes. The five-year figures are rounded.