Teladoc Health, Inc. (TDOC Quick QuoteTDOC - Free Report) has signed an agreement to acquire Paris-based telemedicine provider MédecinDirect. The deal is in sync with the company’s effort to expand international operations, and comes as no surprise to us given its recent commentary relating to overseas business expansion.

 

The buyout is likely to close during the first half of 2019. However, the terms of the deal have been kept under wraps. Post the acquisition, MédecinDirect will be Teledoc’s first unit in France. It will be an addition to existing operations in the U.K., Australia, Canada, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, China, Chile and Brazil.

 

MédecinDirect is the best fit for Teladoc given the former’s well-established client base of 40 leading insurance partners and nearly half of the top 30 private medical insurers (PMIs) in France. Moreover, the region offers ample scope for growth as it experiences growing demand for convenient access to high-quality healthcare. Rising consumer awareness and recent positive regulatory changes regarding virtual care reimbursement is fueling demand for virtual care.

 

Teladoc started off with its international business last year with the buyout of Advance Medical, having operations in Europe, Asia, Latin America and the United States.

 

Teladoc is gaining ground in the rapidly growing telehealth services industry. The company also has the capability to provide care by virtual means through its platform that caters to consumer demand and physician availability in real-time, and in various modalities such as video, web, mobile and telephone. Moreover, the emergence of technology via big data and analytics, cloud-based solutions, online video and mobile applications provides the company with massive potential for growth.

 

Teladoc’s organic growth is complemented by its inorganic growth via recent acquisitions of HealthiestYou and Best Doctors.

 

Its stock has rallied 46% in a year’s time compared with the industry’s growth of 17.3%.

 

 

Teladoc carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). Some better-ranked stocks in the same space are BioTelemetry, Inc. (BEAT Quick QuoteBEAT - Free Report) , OncoCyte Corporation (OCX Quick QuoteOCX - Free Report) and PRA Healh Sciences, Inc. . While BioTelemetry sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), both OncoCyte and PRA Healh carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

 

BioTelemetry and PRA Health beat estimates in the trailing four quarters with average positive surprise of 50.9% and 3.7%, respectively. OncoCyte surpassed estimates in two of the four reported quarters with average positive surprise of 2.5%.