Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Investopedia: Will A Shake-Up Cure AngioDynamic's Malaise?

Times are still tough for most health care companies as patient visits are down due to the economy and few new technologies are really exciting the markets. Even with that less-than-stellar backdrop, AngioDynamics (Nasdaq:ANGO) has been in a bit of a malaise; financial performance hasn't been great (sales have only grown about 10% in over two year's time) and the stock has languished relative to competing names like Bard (NYSE:BCR), Covidien (NYSE:COV) and Vascular Solutions (Nasdaq:VASC). 

Well, the board has apparently had enough. Along with the company's announcement Monday evening that fiscal fourth quarter performance would be once again lacking, the company announced the immediate resignation of the CEO in language that made it seem pretty clear that the board was none too happy with the lack of performance during his tenure. While this sudden shake-up is no doubt going to disturb the business and delay the sort of accretive acquisitions that analysts and investors have been waiting for, it is a move that could eventually pay off for patient shareholders. (For related reading, see CEO Savy And Stock's Success Go Hand In Hand.)


The Fiscal Fourth Quarter Was "Blah" at Best
The last three quarters have not been very impressive at AngioDynamics, bumping along with no more than 5% year-on-year growth. Fiscal fourth quarter results are continuing that unhappy trend, as the company announced that sales would be below initial guidance of $57.5 million to $60.5 million and instead were down more than 6% from last year to $56.4 million. Of that, oncology showed some decent growth at 11% (oncology has been the only major growth driver for a while), while vascular sales fell 13%.


To read the full piece, please click below:
http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2011/Will-A-Shake-Up-Cure-AngioDynamics-Malaise-ANGO-BCR-COV-VASC-JNJ-MDT-BSX0614.aspx

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