Danaher Needs To Win Back Some Love

While Danaher (NYSE:DHR) isn't trading below my fair value today, it's about as close as it ever gets and that tells me a lot about where sentiment is today. Looking at the performance over the last six months, only much-maligned GE (NYSE:GE) has done worse among Danaher peers/comps like Illinois Tool Works (NYSE:ITW), Honeywell (NYSE:HON), 3M (NYSE:MMM), and Thermo Fisher (NYSE:TMO), and there seems to be more angst around the company's quarterly reports and management's M&A strategy than I recall in past years.

That could be an interesting set-up for long-term investors. Although I don't think Danaher is especially well-placed for what investors seem to really want today (namely, leverage to a "metal and grease " industrial recovery), I still believe this is a well-constructed business for the long term. Mid single-digit revenue and free cash flow growth can support a fair value in the low $80s, and that makes Danaher worth considering in a market where many industrials have run ahead of fair value.

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Danaher Needs To Win Back Some Love

Seeking Alpha: Trinity Biotech Getting A Head-Of-The-Class Multiple

Fellow Seeking Alpha contributor Paul Nouri made a very solid call naming Trinity Biotech (TRIB) a Top Idea back in late June, as the shares have risen about 60% since then. While I do like this under-followed Irish diagnostics specialist, I have to wonder if the stock has gone too far too fast. Even if I assume uncommonly high free cash flow margins and that the company captures one-third of the troponin and BNP testing markets, the numbers just don't work for me right now.

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Trinity Biotech Getting A Head-Of-The-Class Multiple

Seeking Alpha: LipoScience - A Small Company Targeting A Large Market

Healthcare is arguably defined by a continual push for better mousetraps, and LipoScience (LPDX) may have a better mousetrap for diagnosing and characterizing heart disease. Not only does LipoScience provide information to doctors that other systems currently on the market do not, it does so with a platform that offers meaningful potential value for the hospital or lab using it. Diagnostics is a very crowded market and it is absolutely essential that LipoScience broaden its array of assays, but this looks like a small med-tech well worth keeping an eye on today.

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LipoScience - A Small Company Targeting A Large Market

Investopedia: Meridian Biosciences - Stealth Income Play

Although healthcare has a lot of attributes that would seem to support healthy dividends (protected markets, high margins, excellent cashflow), there's actually only a fairly limited list of quality income names. Once investors have worked past names like Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) and Abbott Labs (NYSE:ABT), most investors have to start looking at pharmaceutical names or accept sub-3% yields.

And there's Meridian Biosciences (Nasdaq:VIVO). An established player in easy-to-use and affordable diagnostic tests, Meridian couples pretty decent growth (and growth potential) with a generous dividend payout. Although this stock is not cheap, it may, nevertheless, appeal to those investors looking for a healthy dividend with some growth upside. 

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http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2011/Meridian-Biosciences--Stealth-Income-Play-VIVO-ALR-CPHD-BDX-GPRO-LMNX-ABT1116.aspx

MELA Sciences' New Device - Will It Be Approved?

On Thursday, would-be medical device manufacturer MELA Sciences (Nasdaq:MELA) got its day in front of an FDA advisory panel. Despite an unrestrained barrage from the FDA regarding the utility, safety and efficacy of the company's investigational device, MelaFind, the panel nevertheless gave an equivocal vote on the device. In the final tally, the panel voted that the device was safe and effective, and very narrowly voted that its potential benefits outweighed the risks. 

Will The Panel Sway a Skeptical FDA? 
Here again is the time and place for the boilerplate notice that although the FDA often does follow the advice of its panels, it is not obligated to do so and has in the past issued decisions contrary to the panel's vote. This seems to be an example of another case where that is likely.

I have worked in the medical device industry as a securities analyst and consultant for nearly 15 years, and I have never seen the FDA object to a device with as much rigor as they directed toward the MelaFind. There have certainly been debates and disagreements in the past; panels for medical device makers like Cyberonics (Nasdaq:CYBX) and Therasense (now part of Abbott Labs (NYSE:ABT)) featured some intense disagreements and pointed barbs, but nothing quite like this.

The link below leads to the full article:
http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2010/MELA-Sciences-New-Device-Will-It-Be-Approved-MELA-CYBX-ABT-GE-SI-PHG-ALR1119.aspx