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Biotech / Medical : ACMI - Accumed Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Chuck. Edwards who wrote (643)	12/11/1997 10:16:00 AM
From: Cisco	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 1894

Chuck, I would like to respond to a couple of your points. You argue that corporate restructuring is a pessimistic sign. I strongly disagree with that comment as it relates to AccuMed. During the last three years AccuMed Inc. acquired first Sensititre Ltd., followed by RADCO Ventures, Inc., followed by two-third Oncometrics Imaging Corp. Then in March 1997 it purchased the ESP blood culture line along with its ongoing research efforts. The corporate consolidation that Accumed has been talking about is the combining of the sales and support structures for its various divisions that it has acquired mostly within the last year. The company has now completed some research projects that were acquired with the ESP blood culture lines which brought a reduction in its overall research budget. The fact that it closed its facility in Ann Arbor, Michigan must be interpreted in the light of the fact that it just opened its new manufacturing facility in Chicago in May of this year. During the Conference Call earlier this month, the CEO stated that they had adequate resources to carry the company to profitability. In addition he stated they were in the position to manufacture and ship all orders in a timely matter. Not bad at all for a product that didn't receive FDA approval until August! You state that the Pap smear business is widely regarded as a zero-sum game -- a lab can only buy so much equipment, and if it buys from one company rather than another, the latter company suffers. Regardless of whether a conventional or thinprep system is used to produce the smear, the smear must still be read! AccuMed has shown that it can save a laboratory money from day one while increasing the reliability and quality of that reading. Personally I believe that a year from now the state of the art will be Thinprep read by TracCell. CYTC and ACMI are not true competitors. Also AccuMed would become profitable even if it didn't have its cyctopathology division. It is not a one product company like CYTC. Finally, which company has the best potential return on investment by mid 1998. Both companies are trading significantly off their 52 week high. I believe both companies will be trading near their 52 week high by mid 1998. That would represent a 202% increase for ACMI and a 22% increase for CYTC. For CYTC to produce a 202% return it would have to sell at $78.47. Somehow I believe it is much more likely that ACMI will be selling at $4.44 than CYTC will be selling for $78.47 at mid 1998. I do like CYTC, I just believe that ACMI has a greater potential for higher returns in the near future. Cisco

To: Chuck. Edwards who wrote (643)	12/11/1997 8:01:00 PM
From: aatkinson	Respond to of 1894

Regarding your "can only buy so much equipment". A company will buy equipment that more than pays its way. If the ACMI system can save a company significantly more than it costs, then a company will usually find a way (borrow) to pay for the equipment even if it doesn't have the cash on hand. Project and equipment decisions are made on an economic and sound business basis. If CYTC and ACMI were in a technological competition, you might have had a point, but they're not. Each does something different and in fact they complement one another.