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ABIOMED Impella Heart Pump Reduces Kidney Injury during PCI

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Danvers, MA-based ABIOMED, Inc. , a leading medical product developer, recently announced that a new study has been published in Circulation Research (a biweekly medical journal). The study demonstrates that the company’s flagship Impella 2.5 heart pump can reduce the risk of acute kidney injury during high-risk percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

In this regard, Impella 2.5 is a heart pump designed to protect a patient hemodynamically from advanced heart failure, cardiogenic shock or similar heart diseases. Per management, the study endorses the potential of these minimally-invasive heart pumps, which reduces the risks associated with multiple PCI procedures performed in various stages of the treatment in a cost-effective framework.

Of late, the Impella heart platform has contributed significantly to the company’s top-line performance. In this regard, Impella revenues grew a strong 35% year over year globally, in the just-reported third quarter of 2016. In the domestic market, revenues improved 34% while outside the U.S., revenues shot up 47% at cc (constant currency). Notably, Germany accounted for the majority of the international revenues at the Impella platform.

Of the recent developments in the Impella platform, in February, ABIOMED announced that it has supported more than 50,000 patients in the U.S., an incredible milestone in the company’s growth trajectory.

Stock Performance

However, over the last one year, the price performance of ABIOMED has been encouraging. The stock added 37%, higher than the Zacks classified Medical – Instruments sub-industry’s gain of 9.6%. Also, the current level compares unfavorably with the S&P 500’s return of 14.5% over the same time frame.

On the flipside, the estimate revision trend for the stock lacks luster. The current quarter has seen four estimates move south over the last two months, with no movement in the opposite direction. As a result, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current quarter dropped roughly 2.9% to 35 cents per share over the same time period.

Our Take

Abiomed’s Impella utilization is accelerating at a remarkable pace with an increasing number of hospitals and customer sites purchasing the same. We believe that the flagship Impella product line is a significant growth catalyst for the company. Meanwhile, other products in the Impella platform include Impella CP, Impella 5.0/LD, Impella RP and Automated Impella Controller.

The latest development will help the company tap into the abundant opportunities in the domestic and international markets. Per a research report by Mordor Intelligence, the U.S. holds the largest market share in the global cardiac assist devices market. Banking on such favorable trends, we expect ABIOMED to gain significant traction in the days to come.

Key Picks

Stocks in the broader medical sector that you might like to consider are IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (IDXX - Free Report) , Avinger, Inc. (AVGR - Free Report) and Fluidigm Corp. .

IDEXX Laboratories has a long-term expected earnings growth rate of approximately 15.04%. Notably, the stock represents an impressive one-year return of 91.2%.

Avinger projects sales growth of 30.6% for the current year. The company posted a positive earnings surprise of 27% in the last quarter.

Fluidigm has a long-term expected earnings growth rate of 25%. The company posted a positive earnings surprise of 1.6% in the last quarter.

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