Good Luck, Peter

Saw an announcement after today's close that Peter Donato has resigned from his position as CFO at IRIS International. I had the pleasure of interacting with him a number of times while I covered his company as a sell-side analyst. Much as it pains me to praise any fan of Ohio State and the Detroit Redwings, I always enjoyed interacting with Peter, and IRIS is poorer for his departure.

I won't even begin to speculate as to why he is leaving the company and what it may, or may not, mean. People move on in business and it's just a fact of life. Still, it's another ripple through a company that seems to be pretty much cursed with them. Given what the company hopes to accomplish in the near term - filing for VELOCITY, securing FDA approval for ProsVue, launching those two products in the US, and rebuilding the company's reputation with the Street -- that is a pretty significant shake-up for the company.

I guess the "good news" here for an IRIS shareholder is that the value of the stock is pretty much based upon what the company *should* be able to do and not what it has been doing recently. Accordingly, assuming that the company recruits a qualified candidate, it shouldn't really impact the story over the long-term. Still, I would be nervous about what this management shake-up is going to do to the company's launch plans.

Again, best of luck Peter!

Three Growth Med-Techs Show Their Cards

The following went up this morning on Investopedia:
http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2010/Three-Growth-Med-Techs-Show-Their-Cards-HOLX-IRIS-VOLC-GE-CPTS-GPRO-BSX-IHI0506.aspx.

As earnings season winds down, a relatively rare trifecta occurred May 3 as three quality growth med-tech stocks reported their earnings. Hologic (Nasdaq: HOLX), IRIS International (Nasdaq: IRIS) and Volcano (Nasdaq: VOLC) all reported earnings with varying degrees of performance. 

For the full article:   http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2010/Three-Growth-Med-Techs-Show-Their-Cards-HOLX-IRIS-VOLC-GE-CPTS-GPRO-BSX-IHI0506.aspx.

Small Med-Tech Names You Should Know

A quirk of timing led to me having two articles posted today on Investopedia.

Here is the second one.


http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2010/Small-Med-Tech-Names-You-Should-Know-ICUI-IRIS-LMNX-HSP-ILMN0415.aspx


Small Med-Tech Names You Should Know

Healthcare is a huge space, and for every Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) or Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), there are dozens of quality names that go unnoticed by the investing public. A little time and effort, though, can uncover some intriguing names that may deserve a place in investors' portfolios. Today we highlight three ideas.

http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2010/Small-Med-Tech-Names-You-Should-Know-ICUI-IRIS-LMNX-HSP-ILMN0415.aspx