Bio-Rad Shares Dip Following Cyber Attack

Bio-Rad Laboratories disclosed in a Form 8-K filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday that it was the victim of a ransomware attack on its network the day before.
 
The firm declared that it immediately took certain systems offline and is now working to restore full system functionality. "Customers may experience delays in placing orders while Bio-Rad’s systems are down," the firm wrote, but also said that there is currently no evidence of any unauthorized transfer or misuse of data.
 
The firm's stock has dropped since disclosing the attack, reaching a low of $339.00 earlier today, down from a close of $374.20 on Friday. Its shares were down around 2 percent at $351.76 in Tuesday afternoon trade on the New York Stock Exchange.
 
Following a conversation with Bio-Rad's management on Monday, analysts at Jeffries suggested the incident may have a material negative impact on the firm's fourth quarter but would not be likely to cause significant or permanent share losses. "We would be buyers, especially on weakness," they wrote in a note to investors.
 
Bio-Rad has taken down all global information technology systems and is in the process of individually validating each one, according to Jeffries. Meanwhile, customers can place orders by telephone and may experience order delays, according to the Jeffries note.
 
T2 Biosystems was the victim of a similar cyber attack last month, causing the firm to delay filing its third quarter earnings. In their note, Jeffries' analysts also pointed to similar attacks that have impacted global operations for EU public companies Eurofins and Demant. Both Demant and Eurofins took about two to three weeks to fully restore their IT systems, they said, and both stocks initially fell 10 to 15 percent but have now fully recovered.