The Australian Clinical Labs Ltd (ASX: ACL) share price is tumbling today, but it's had a whopping run lately.
At the time of writing, the Australian Clinical Labs share price is $5.87. That's 1.51% lower than its previous close but 38% higher than it was at the end of last month.
Additionally, it reached a new 52-week high in yesterday's session, hitting $6.39 in intraday trade.
Let's take a look at what's been driving the company's stock lately.
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Australian Clinical Labs share price soars in December
Australian Clinical Labs' stock took off last week after the company upgraded its guidance for the first half of financial year 2022 (FY22).
It now expects to bring in between $497.3 million and $517.2 million of revenue and net profits after tax of $116.3 million to $128 million.
The boosted expectations followed continuous strong demand for COVID-19 testing, particularly in New South Wales and Victoria. The company's revenue is also being helped along by the resilience of its non-COVID business.
The company's CEO Melinda McGrath commented on the company's new outlook, saying:
We anticipate heightened volumes of COVID-19 testing to continue during the remainder of FY22 due to the impact of new variants and outbreaks, the lifting of travel restrictions and increased demand for both commercial and travel testing.
Thus, this week's case numbers might have brought the stock some extra attention.
Over the 7 days to 8pm last night, New South Wales had reported 52,775 new cases of COVID-19. Of those, 12,226 were recorded in the previous 24 hours.
Victoria also announced a new record number of new daily cases today, with 5,137 of the state's residents testing positive for the virus.
While the month so far has been a good one for the Australian Clinical Labs share price, today seems to be telling a different story. The company's stock is tumbling for no obvious reason this morning.
However, despite the slump, it's still in the long-term green. Right now, the Australian Clinical Labs share price is 72% higher than it was at the start of 2021.
Additionally, it isn't alone in its recent gains. Fellow pathology companies, Healius Ltd (ASX: HLS) and Sonic Healthcare Limited (ASX: SHL) have seen their share prices increase 13% and 9% respectively this month.
