Seeking Alpha: Nobel Biocare Has Gotten Its Teeth Kicked In

How unpopular is Swiss dental device company Nobel Biocare (NBHGY.PK)? The stock was down 30% in 2012 and is down 75% over the past three years, but the stock still carries an overwhelming number of "Sell" recommendations. While Nobel has seen some significant negative developments in its core dental implants market, it's still worth asking whether this stock may not carry some value for risk-tolerant deep-value turnaround investors.

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Nobel Biocare Has Gotten Its Teeth Kicked In

Seeking Alpha: Dentsply - A Great Stock, But Not A Great Price

Dental care has held up better than most analysts expected, and Dentsply's (XRAY) to decision to continue investing in the business during the worst of the downturn should put it in place to gain even more share. That said, the stock's relative outperformance has left it a little expensive when compared to the larger med-tech universe.

A Confusing Q4
Dentsply's financial press releases are never what you might call a vault of information, and this is a company where shareholders should definitely make a point of listening to the conference call or reading the transcript. That said, even with the supplementary information, this was a complicated quarter.

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Dentsply: A Great Stock, But Not A Great Price

Seeking Alpha: Can Align Technology Fix The Gap In Its Valuation?

Although I'm quite willing to bemoan the lack of good growth stories in med-tech today, the reality is that it's not so much a lack of good growth stories as a lack of good undervalued growth stories that is the problem. Align Technology (ALGN) is a good case in point. While this company has a lot of things going for it - including market share, under-penetrated markets, and good profits - valuation has caught up with the shares and company guidance is denting some of its growth expectations.

A Good Quarter, But ...

Align did what it needed to do for the fourth quarter, and then a little extra. Revenue was a bit ahead of expectations and grew 39% from the year-ago quarter (and more than 2% from the third quarter). This overstates things a bit because of the Cadent acquisition, but core Invisalign revenue was up 28%. Case volume growth in the Invisalign business was an impressive 30% and more than offset weakening ASPs.

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Can Align Technology Fix The Gap In Its Valuation?

Investopedia: 2011 - Another Sick Year For Larger Med-Tech

Healthcare may not have been in the emergency room, or even the ICU, during 2011, but this sector was sick from beginning to end. Unfortunately, the story that was true in 2010 is still true today - higher unemployment means fewer people with health insurance, and even those with coverage are more nervous about taking time off or meeting their copays. At the same time, hospitals and the federal government continue to draw hard lines on pricing, and there have been few innovative product launches to stimulate new markets.


Just to frame the discussion, the Dow Jones U.S. Medical Devices Index Fund (NYSE:IHI) has fallen more than 5% year-to-date as of this writing.

A Very Familiar Name on Top
Yet again, one name dominated the list of top-performing med-techs. Intuitive Surgical (Nasdaq:ISRG) is still really the only game in town when it comes to surgical robots, and demand for these devices has remained high despite a fairly conservative environment for hospital equipment. Intuitive has seen revenue rise nearly 30% over the trailing twelve months, while the stock has jumped nearly 70%. Trading at over 23 times EBITDA and nearly 10 times revenue, this is hardly an undiscovered bargain in the space, but it does offer the growth that institutional investors are so desperate to find. (For related reading, see A Primer On The Biotech Sector.)


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Investopedia: Danaher Delivers On High Expectations

Ordinarily it is no big deal when someone is walking along and has a slight stumble. Put that same person on a mountainside, though, and that stumble is suddenly quite a bit more serious. That might be one way to think about Danaher's (NYSE:DHR) second quarter earnings - there was not all that much to object to, but Danaher carries a hefty premium due in part to a reputation for excellent execution. That may just be something to keep in mind if investors find themselves reading about a "disappointing" quarter. 

Solid Second Quarter Results  
While Danaher did report a fairly gaudy growth rate of over 15% for the second quarter, organic growth was a more modest 7.5%. Organic growth was led by test/measurement and industrial tech, while the environmental unit saw a small organic revenue decline. Danaher's dental business looked like a bit of a laggard (but still up more than 6%) and life sciences was relatively solid. 


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Danaher Delivers On High Expectations (DHR, BRK.A, SI, TMO, PAY, XRAY, GE)

Feeling Better With Danaher

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) may be a real handful for the analysts that follow the stock, but its diverse business model is a good barometer of many different markets. Although some of Danaher's strong performance this quarter should certainly be attributed to the quality of the company and its management, it seems reasonable to conclude that economic conditions are actually not too bad. 

The Quarter That Was
Danaher reported another quarter of double-digit growth (the company has an informal target of 10% quarterly growth), with revenue up 16%. Of that figure, "core" revenue growth was better than 12%.

The medical segment was something of a laggard at better than 7% organic growth, but that is actually not a bad performance at all by the current standards of healthcare. Tools was also relatively weak at 5% organic growth, but the company's joint venture with Cooper Industries (NYSE:CPB) makes the comparison less useful. Professional instrumentation was strong at over 15% growth, and industrial was the leader at better than 16% growth.

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