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Amazon's Healthcare Push Gains Steam: Others Flexing Muscles?

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Amazon’s (AMZN - Free Report) latest move to hire Maulik Majmudar, renowned cardiologist, reveals its ambition to aggressively disrupt the healthcare sector. Notably, the company has already taken primary care expert, Martin Levine and former FDA chief health information officer Taha Kass-Hout on board.

All these endeavors are in sync with the company’s strong focus toward delivering quality service in the healthcare market. Per the latest report from Research and Markets, the global healthcare quality management market is expected to reach $3.7 billion by 2023 by growing at a CAGR 15% between 2018 and 2023.

Amazon is aiming to leverage the heavy dependence of healthcare sector on emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Augmented & Virtual Reality (AR/VR), Machine Learning (ML) and data analytics.

This Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stock’s cloud team is already involved in selling AI and other advanced technologies to the health care companies. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Amazon Seeking to Rapidly Penetrate Medical Supplies Market

Amazon has plans to sell medical supplies to hospitals and clinics and they are being executed by its business group. Moreover, the company is in talks with a Seattle-based start-up called Xealth to work on its project related to medical supplies along with the participation from two hospitals namely Providence Health Systems and University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

The project will not only make the patient’s access to medical supplies easier but will also allow the doctors to prescribe medical products necessary for their patients after a surgery or in general cases through the hospital’s online portal.

This will help Amazon fast penetrate the medical supplies market, which as per a report from Energias Market Research, is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.3% over 2017-2023 time frame to reach $140.5 billion by 2023.

Additionally, the company has created a health & wellness team within its existing Alexa team in order to focus more on developing voice assisted health care applications. This effort of Amazon holds a promise in the digital healthcare space.

Moreover, the company has a team named Grand Challenge which is working on several projects related to medical records, last mile delivery and most importantly cancer research.

Last but not the least, Amazon’s foray into the high-potential pharmaceutical market with the announcement of PillPack acquisition to sell prescription medicine online remains its most significant step to date in the healthcare sector.

What Are the Other Tech Firms Doing?

However, Amazon is not the only technology company that is trying to leverage the immense growth opportunities in the $3-trillion healthcare sector. Alphabet (GOOGL - Free Report) , Facebook , Fitbit , Garmin (GRMN - Free Report) and Apple (AAPL - Free Report) are some of the tech behemoths currently eyeing a pie of this huge market.

Facebook is aggressively looking into deals with several major U.S. hospitals and health organizations such as Stanford Medical School and American College of Cardiology for sharing data about the illness and medicines of their patients.

These efforts are in sync with the development of the company’s healthcare project which is being spearheaded by well-known cardiologist, Freddy Abnousi.

Additionally, this Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) stock is making its foray into the medical imaging research by using a technology called neural networks to lessen the time taken by traditional MRI imaging.

Facebook, Inc. Price and Consensus

Facebook, Inc. Price and Consensus | Facebook, Inc. Quote

The iPhone maker, Apple that carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), is also leaving no stone unturned to bolster presence in the healthcare market with its compatible HealthKit and updated version of its Health app in iOS 11.3 preview. Notably, this app allows the users to access their medical records on their iPhones.

Further, the robust Apple Watch wearable series is also gaining traction over the past few quarters, due to its advanced fitness tracking technology. Reportedly, the built-in electriocardiogram reader in an Apple Watch is capable enough to detect an abnormal heart rate.

We note that fitness wearable products are playing a significant role in maintaining good health in today’s fast-paced world. Consequently, these products are gaining momentum in the market.

Apple Inc. Price and Consensus

Apple Inc. Price and Consensus | Apple Inc. Quote

According to data from Allied Market Research, the global market for fitness tracker is projected to reach $62.13 billion by 2023 at a CAGR of 19.6% between 2017 and 2023.

Fitbit, which carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), is a dominant player in the wearable space and has also established its position in the healthcare sector with its huge portfolio of fitness tracker products. The recent launch of Fitbit Charge 3 provides better healthcare management with its advanced 24/7 PurePulse heart rate technology and SpO2 sensor.

Fitbit, Inc. Price and Consensus

Fitbit, Inc. Price and Consensus | Fitbit, Inc. Quote

Meanwhile, Garmin has also strengthened presence in this space with the recent synchronization of Cardiogram heart health app with its wearables featuring optical heart rate such as fenix, Forerunner and vivo devices. The company carries a Zacks Rank #2.

Garmin Ltd. Price and Consensus

Garmin Ltd. Price and Consensus | Garmin Ltd. Quote

Further, in a bid to capitalize on the growing fitness tracker market, Alphabet’s Google is gearing up to launch a Pixel Smartwatch this October.

Additionally, this Zacks Rank #3 stock’s healthcare division Verily is set to form a joint venture with ResMed to develop a technology that can be utilized for the diagnosis and treatment of a widespread sleeping disorder called sleep apnea. This will expand its footprint in this sector.

Moreover, Alphabet has 186 files healthcare patents.

Alphabet Inc. Price and Consensus

Alphabet Inc. Price and Consensus | Alphabet Inc. Quote

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