To: Paul Senior who wrote (74946 ) 1/26/2024 9:56:53 AM From: Harshu Vyas Read Replies (1) | Respond to Haven't really discussed the products on here. You're totally right. Here's my rough thoughts: The real risk is that AviClear isn't as good as management make it out to be and practitioners want nothing to do with it. Online reviews are generally positive, but I've been trying to get my hands on real, scientific, statistical results. When AviClear was released, the share price rocketed to $70/sh. The market was genuinely excited for an FDA-approved, acne removal laser. But with all of the terrible news, the market went from overoptimism to outright doom and gloom. Compared to Accutane (the largest competitor), AviClear seems to be better, but still not perfect. The real problem is that Accutane is covered by insurance, AviClear not. Now, AviClear is better because it takes less time but it's far more costly ($3000). Accutane can also not be used by pregnant ladies as it's harmful to the baby - so women have to go on birth control when using Accutane. And there are side effects that patients complain about. The argument from Cutera management is that ex-management sold AviClear to practitioners who didn't quite know what they were doing and they got the pricing of the models totally off (i.e they leased them for a fraction of what they should have been). Hence, the "not-so-great" results. There could be an element of truth to that. Also, it was never meant to work on everyone, anyway. At these prices, $2-3/sh, with completely asymmetric upside, I think it's worth a try. Further, if we look at Cutera Core (tattoo removal, liposuction etc), that business has generally been valued around $12/sh.
