I've been in Utah med a few years. On the positive, I see medical products being a long term growth industry with aging people, and more people, and more people in the world able to afford medical products. Other than electronic technology, I do not see any other industry as growth oriented as medical. And the U.S. is still the leader in this field, so export growth is a strong possibility. Utah medical has handled the transition from founder to professional management reasonably smoothly.
As to new products that may grow sales, the epitome scalpel does seem promising, although one wonders if the patent would hold if someone else started making a copy. (It is a scalpel that passes electric current only at the cutting edge, rather than the whole side of the blade; makes best use of the current with lesser incidental damage). Even so, I would suppose Utah Medical would be the best provider, albeit at lesser margins.
My greatest hope is for the pipeline, and I do not know what is in it. It's largely a matter of making a bet on management. Marketing small medical devices is hit or miss. Utah seems to be a good place for such companies: RMED is close by, and Ballard Medical up the Interstate with a new building in Idaho.
Put a little money into each of these stocks and wait a few years, and I think you'd do all right. I like Utah Med the best because its PE is lower, and it does have good potential for growth. I'll be looking into Staar Surgical too. |
