VNUS Has Headwinds

An update has just come out today on VNUS Medical Technologies, Inc. (VNUS), in which senior medical products analyst Gregory Aurand, CFA has issued a Hold rating on the company. We excerpted the following details:

"The originally expected October 29th patent trial against the laser companies has been rescheduled to June 23, 2008, so we expect continued litigation expenses, although management expects to be profitable in 2008. Lower gross margin, as well as higher advertising and R&D expense, will also negatively impact profitability in 2008.

"On January 15, 2008, VNUS Medical Technologies, Inc. announced that the patent infringement lawsuit brought by VNUS against three endovenous laser competitors -- Diomed Holdings, Inc. (DIO), Angio-Dynamics, Inc. (ANGO - Analyst Report) and Vascular Solutions, Inc. (VASC - Snapshot Report) -- has been scheduled to start on June 23, 2008. The jury trial is expected to last three to four weeks.

"At its current price, VNUS trades at roughly 3x 2008 revenues, roughly in-line with the 2.9x 2008 revenue average of comparables. While the company is making progress, given the losses, competition headwind and litigation issues, we believe the company, at best, should trade in-line with comparables. At 3x 2008 revenues, in-line with the comparables average and the industry 2.9x revenue mean, our target moves to $15."

Read the full analyst report on VNUS.

Read the full analyst report on ANGO.

Read the full analyst report on VNUS

Read the full analyst report on ANGO

Read the full analyst report on DIO

Read the full analyst report on VASC