Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, genetic analysis specialist Sequenom (Nasdaq: SQNM) has earned a respected four-star ranking.

With that in mind, let's take a closer look at Sequenom's business and see what CAPS investors are saying about the stock right now.

Sequenom facts

Headquarters (Founded) San Diego, Calif. (1994)
Market Cap $404.3 million
Industry Life sciences tools and services
Trailing-12-Month Revenue $54.2 million
Management Chairman/CEO Dr. Harry Hixson, Jr.
CFO Paul Maier
Return on Equity (Average, Past 3 Years) (132.3%)
Cash/Debt $101.2 million / $12.1 million
Competitors Illumina (Nasdaq: ILMN)
Life Technologies (Nasdaq: LIFE)

Sources: S&P Capital IQ and Motley Fool CAPS.

On CAPS, 92% of the 681 members who have rated Sequenom believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include MajorBob04 and unkownuser.

Earlier this week, MajorBob04 tapped Sequenom as tempting turnaround opportunity:

Insiders are buying this stock. And as Seeking Alpha says: "With the stock trading for about 50% of the 52 week high, this could be a good candidate for a rebound in January after all the tax-loss selling ends." I agree.

Over the next five years, Sequenom is even expected to grow its bottom line at a brisk rate of 22% annually. That's faster than that of main rivals Illumina (18%) and Life Technologies (11%).

CAPS member unkownuser elaborates on the growth opportunity:

The Sequenom MaterniT21 prenatal test for Down Syndrome is going to be a much bigger hit than people realize. ...

It is being marketed as an alternative to amniocentesis for women over 35; the intended target market, since they are at highest risk of bearing children with Down Syndrome.

Despite the higher risk (and higher incidence of Down Syndrome) in the over-35 group, the fact is that there are millions more women under 35 having children. ...

So my feeling is that now that detection has been reduced to the level of simple blood work, more and more women outside the high risk category will be requesting the screening as a "just in case" measure.

What this means is that Sequenom's extremely conservative estimate of potential sales, which includes only the 750,000 births yearly to those women in the high risk category; could balloon into something much much bigger.

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