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Wearable Technology Market Gains Ground, 3 Stocks in Focus

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With smartwatches, fitness trackers, smart clothing and smart glasses, the wearable market has grown exponentially in the last few years. Per a Statista report, nearly 150 million wearables were shipped worldwide in Q3 2023 alone. However, beyond simply tracking steps or serving as smart health devices, wearables have far evolved to become one of the most attractive investment opportunities in today's market.

For investors who are keen on tapping the rising prospects of prospering wearable technology within healthcare, it’s the ideal time to enter and gain maximum return out of it. Here are the three stocks, Abbott Laboratories (ABT - Free Report) , Medtronic (MDT - Free Report) and Dexcom (DXCM - Free Report) ,which we expect to hold solid future potential, banking on their strong and strategic progress in this niche industry.

Wearable Tech Transforming Healthcare

In the aftermath of the pandemic, there has been a widespread focus on monitoring individual health. Turning to the present, wearable technology has become an essential part of healthcare, enabling individuals to gather and report their own health data, thus eliminating the need for face-to-face appointments. The new generation of products includes a myriad of technological advancements such as new health-related features, integration of AI for personalized recommendations and fetching real-time data to providers for enhanced patient outcomes.

Because of the multitude of benefits they possess, some of the emerging wearable medical devices — like fitness trackers, electrocardiogram monitors, blood pressure monitors and biosensors — have witnessed booming demand of late. The wearables sector is poised to grow further, significantly driven by the increasing consumer interest in health and fitness. As these devices become more advanced, providing greater functionality, their demand will escalate even more.

GlobalData forecasts an optimistic CAGR of 15% up to 2030 for the wearable technology market in the medical sector. With such a positive backdrop, we have picked three stocks, which are likely to continue their remarkable stride in 2024 too.

Abbott Laboratories

Abbott has advanced into the latest evolution of healthtech, referred to as biowearables, which are a type of wearable tech that delves beneath the skin to monitor the body’s internal biomarkers. A key distinguishing advantage is their ability to offer real-time insights.

Abbott's FreeStyle Libre, a continuous glucose monitoring technology designed for people living with diabetes, is widely considered to be one of the most successful biowearables to date. Sales of FreeStyle Libre grew nearly 28.5% in Q3 2023 compared to Q3 2022, while the global Libre user base surpassed 5 million, with almost 2 million in the United States alone. Abbott CEO Robert Ford expressed views on growing the Freestyle Libre CGM into a $10 billion product by 2028, implying an estimated annual growth rate of 15%.

In early 2022, Abbott announced a new line of consumer biowearables, Lingo, which is designed to track key signals in the body, such as glucose, ketones and lactate to help people make informed health decisions.

ABT presently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). The stock has an expected year-over-year sales growth of 3.7% in 2024. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Medtronic

Medtronic plans to use new technology, AI and data analytics for tailored real-time therapies, enabling remote monitoring, convenient care delivery for managing conditions and establishing new standards of care. In 2022, Medtronic and BioIntelliSense’s partnership brought focus to the wearables space, wherein Medtronic’s patient monitoring business was granted the exclusive distribution rights of the BioButton multi-parameter wearable in U.S. hospitals and 30-day post-acute hospital-to-home. By expanding the patient monitoring solutions, the company is helping to ease the pressures from healthcare staffing shortages and reach out to patients in more places.

Many of Medtronic’s therapies and diverse solutions are known to use biosensors, the market for which is forecasted to witness a CAGR of 8.2% through 2023-2033. For instance, the InPen is the only FDA-cleared smart insulin pen in the market for people on multiple daily injections. Minimed 780G is the first to make correction boluses every five minutes, offer flexible glucose targets as low as 100 and feature meal-detection technology.

MDT also presently carries a Zacks Rank #3. In fiscal 2024 (ending Apr 30, 2024), revenues are expected to grow 2.7% compared with fiscal 2023.

Medtronic PLC Price

Medtronic PLC Price

Medtronic PLC price | Medtronic PLC Quote

Dexcom

Dexcom CGM is expanding its reach on a global scale, with the next-generation Dexcom G7 presently available in 14 countries across five continents. The integration of Dexcom G7 with Tandem Diabetes Care’s t:slim X2 insulin pump is a significant milestone, which is currently available in the United States.

Another pivotal moment lies in Dexcom’s entry into Latin America with the launch of Dexcom ONE, featuring a wearable sensor and transmitter. In France, the company successfully secured reimbursement for Dexcom ONE for all people on intensive insulin therapy. It witnessed robust revenue growth of 27% in Q3 2023 due to increased volume and strong new customer additions, reflecting a growing awareness of real-time CGM. In 2024, Dexcom plans to introduce a new product in the U.S. markets, along with a 15-day wear, a cash-pay option and a tailored software experience for people who don’t use insulin.

DXCM carries a Zacks Rank #3 presently. In 2024, annual sales are projected to increase 19.8% compared to 2023.


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