The Sonic Healthcare Limited (ASX: SHL) share price faded its morning gains after opening 2.88% higher to a new all-time high of $43.95.
At the time of writing, shares in the medical diagnostics company are flat at $42.72.
Sonic Healthcare positioned to perform COVID-19 testing for vaccine passport
Sonic Healthcare has played a crucial role in pandemic control, performing ~30 million COVID PCT tests from March 2020 to date.
According to the Australian Financial Review (AFR), Sonic Healthcare is "positioning itself as the top contender to conduct the COVID-19 testing for an eventual "vaccine passport" if there is a government tender process".
Sonic Healthcare CEO Colin Goldschmidt told the AFR that "While there has not been any signal from the government about such a tender process, at the moment the airlines are trying to co-ordinate since they don't want COVID-19 infected travellers on the plane,".
"It's early days, but we are very much investigating what sort of role we can play in terms of travel passports, vaccination and testing, and then linking in with international air carriers. It's a big and complicated area," he said.
COVID-19 testing lifting Sonic Healthcare's earnings
Sonic Healthcare said in its FY21 results that COVID-19 testing has enhanced its financial performance.
As a result, the company's revenue increased 28% to $8.8 billion while net profit surged 149% to $1.3 billion.
Despite a strong financial performance, the Sonic Healthcare share price fell 2.76% to $41.65 on the day of the announcement.
One potential concern is the company's increasing dependency on COVID-19 testing.
Sonic Healthcare flagged that COVID-19 PCR volumes were lower in the second half of the year versus the first half, but have been increasing post-year end with the spread of the Delta variant.
Sonic Healthcare share price snapshot
The Sonic Healthcare share price is up 29.91% year-to-date and 33% in the past 12-months.
The company's shares will go ex-dividend on Tuesday 7 September for 55 cents per share. Investors can expect the dividend to be paid out on Wednesday 22 September.
