Trendsailor I'm feeling " healthy " these days the one stock that has caught my eye & I've been tracking but not yet committing is Cholestech <CTEC>. A brief synopsis:
Cholestech Corporation was incorporated under the laws of the State of California in February 1988. The Company is a provider of diagnostic tools and information for immediate risk assessment and therapeutic monitoring of heart disease and diabetes. It currently manufactures the Cholestech LDX® System, which includes the LDX Analyzer and a variety of single-use test cassettes and market the LDX System in the United States, Europe, Asia, Australia and South America. The LDX System, which is waived under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments, allows healthcare providers to perform individual tests or combinations of tests with a single drop of blood from a fingerstick within five minutes. The Company's current products measure and monitor blood cholesterol, related lipids, glucose and liver function, and are used to test patients at risk of or suffering from heart disease, diabetes and liver disease. The LDX System can also provide Coronary Heart Disease Risk Assessment from the patient's results as measured on the lipid profile cassette. The Company also markets and distributes the Cholestech GDXTM System under a multi-year global distribution agreement with Provalis Diagnostics Ltd. The Cholestech GDX is a hemoglobin A1c testing system that is also waived under CLIA and is used to measure A1C in less than five minutes using a single drop of blood from a fingerstick. The quantitative measure of A1C is well-established as an indicator of a patient's long-term glycemic control. The Company specifically targets its products for markets outside of traditional hospital or clinical laboratories through its worldwide network of over 85 distributors. Its primary market is the physician office laboratory market, which consists of approximately 106,000 sites operated by physicians or groups of physicians that are registered with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Sales of the Company's products to international markets represented 13% of its revenue in fiscal year 2006. While a majority of such sales are in Europe, it is expanding into Asia, and South America. The manufacture and sale of the Company's products are subject to regulation by numerous governmental authorities, principally the FDA and corresponding state and foreign regulatory agencies. As of March 31, 2006, the Company employed 212 full-time associates.
What I like obviously is the quickness of the test and the fact that the Dr can immediately move on to treatments in the same visit. The stock has exploded out of an extremely long base going back 4 years with rising bottoms and rising tops. I'm looking for any type of $16 handle. Trading target after that would be $19.50 and then a retest of the 2001 all time high of $27. I actually think it could blow through $27 in a years time-- check the financial and you'll see something off for a small diagnostic play It Makes money! It has Pe! Albeit a high one. The Co is expanding into Asia which is always a good thing.
A more spec play is Cambridge Heart <CAMH> they are the proud owners of a simple, noninvasive test to predict who would benefit from receiving an pacemaker what's interesting is their test also shows who would not react well and thus stops unnecessary procedures- Medtronic and BSX don't like that part! Or the Dr's who preform these operations so there are some headwinds here but a recent study Jan 2006 validated CAMH's EKG machine that tests for microvolt-T-Wave alternans (MTWA) They have the only patent!
Who would want this to go into everyday use-- well the HMO's of course! Medicare made a national decision to cover the test! Only CAMH's test by the way, this creates a very nice barrier to entry. Other clinical trials are nearing completion. The catch here is the stock was 25 CENTS this year! And is now at a 5 year high. I have a position at $3.20 ~stoney