Hottest Device Stocks Of 2010

2010 was a tough year for medical device stocks. Investors faced up to the reality that a popular myth - that people do not meaningfully change their health care consumption because of the economy - is just not true. Investors also had to digest the impact of a suddenly much more industry-unfriendly FDA, which is imposing new (and in many cases unspecified) standards regarding safety and the trade-off with efficacy.


All in all, the medical device industry lost about 5% in 2010, just barely missing the bottom 10 list of underperformers. In fact, in broad terms, banks (which includes many subcategories), biotechnology, solar and for-profit education were the only ones separating medical devices from the bottom.

That said, it was not all doom and gloom in the sector. In fact, many medical device companies not only outperformed the industry but did quite well in absolute terms. Here are some of the notable performers of the year. (For a quick refresher, check out A Checklist Of Successful Medical Technology Investment.)

Growth Is Growth
NxStage Medical (Nasdaq:NXTM) does not get all that much attention, but this company has brought to reality what many companies have tried (and failed) to develop for at least two decades - an at-home hemodialysis system that actually works in both a technical and practical sense. NxStage is not profitable yet, but the company is posting double-digit growth (annualizing over $100 million). On top of that, sell-side analyst interest is picking up, and institutional investors are becoming a bigger player in the stock. All of that has fueled a better than 200% jump in the stock over the last year.  

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