Investopedia: SonoSite Finds Its Deal

There was little mystery in seeing SonoSite (Nasdaq:SONO) get an acquisition bid. Not only has this relatively small manufacturer of portable ultrasound systems been a logical target for years, but the company began to actively and explicitly sell itself starting back in November. In a week that has seen another logical target (Synovis (Nasdaq:SYNO) get a bid from a not-so-likely buyer (Baxter (NYSE:BAX), the fact that it was Japan's Fujifilm that stepped up to buy the company makes this an a somewhat unusual story.

The Deal  
Fujifilm will be acquiring SonoSite for $995 million in cash, or about $54 per share. That's a 28% premium to Wednesday night's close and a 75% premium to the price of SonoSite's stock before it was widely known that the company was looking to sell. SonoSite is going out at a little more than three times trailing revenue, a multiple curiously similar to that of Synovis and one that is not all that robust by historical small-cap med-tech standards, but isn't so unreasonable given the performance of the company. (For related reading, see An Introduction To Small Cap Stocks.)

Please read more here:
http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2011/SonoSite-Finds-Its-Deal-SONO-GE-SI-PHG-MR-SYNO-BAX1219.aspx

Investopedia: Synovis Has To Bow Out To Get Some Love

Biomaterials and medical tools company Synovis (Nasdaq:SYNO) has almost always been a source of frustration to me as a med-tech analyst. The company's products offer legitimate benefits and improvements over the state of the art, the company generated positive cash flow and management seemed no worse than competent and realistic.

And yet, this company just never got much love or attention. The trading volume was too low to attract sell-side analysts and the company too small to appeal to very many institutional investors. As a result, it takes a buyout by large-cap med-tech titan Baxter (NYSE:BAX) for the company to finally deliver some of its promise to its shareholders.

Read more here:
http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2011/Synovis-Has-To-Bow-Out-To-Get-Some-Love-BAX-SYNO-JNJ-BCR1215.aspx

Investopedia: Covidien Delivers Again

Maybe Covidien (NYSE:COV) goes overlooked because it doesn't have a hype-growth (or hyper-growth, if you prefer) market like surgical robotics or transcathether heart valves. On the other hand, it also doesn't have a big reliance on stagnant markets like orthopedics, stents, or implantable cardioverter defibrillators to weigh it down. Though Covidien admittedly lacks some pizazz, this continues to be an underrated and under-appreciated med-tech name that could deliver solid returns to a patient investor.

A Respectable Close to the Year  
Although Covidien didn't blow the doors off in its fiscal fourth quarter, its core performance, in a weak healthcare market, nonetheless holds up well against rivals like Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), Bard CR (NYSE:BCR), Becton Dickinson (NYSE:BDX) and Stryker (NYSE:SYK). Reported growth of 15% certainly looked awesome, but sizable chunks of that were due to currency and an extra week in the quarter. Strip that away, and organic growth was a bit above 3% - not terrible in this market, but certainly not 15% either.

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http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2011/Covidien-Delivers-Once-Again-COV-JNJ-BCR-BDX-SYK-CSII-SYNO-ABT-IART1121.aspx

Investopedia: Kinetic's Roller Coaster Ride Comes To An End

Wound care specialist Kinetic Concepts (NYSE:KCI) has had a heckuva ride over the last seven years. Once a Wall Street darling with a monopoly position in a healthy market, Kinetic saw setbacks in the courtroom and setbacks in the market before fighting back with an acquisition and some savvy product line extensions. That fueled a rocky share price trajectory that saw the stock cut severely on two occasions, only to bounce back strongly. 


All's well that ends well, though, and shareholders are getting a going-away present worth more than three times the stock's low during the worst of the credit crisis and recession.

Kinetic Gets a Deal
There have been rumors off and on about Kinetic Concepts being a buyout target for years, but the speculation heated up just last week. Validating that speculation, the company announced Wednesday morning that it had accepted an all-cash buyout from a private equity group. 



To read the full piece, please follow the link below:
http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2011/Kinetics-Roller-Coaster-Ride-Comes-To-An-End-KCI-SNN-SYNO-COV-JNJ-BCR-SYK0714.aspx