For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – January 8, 2021 –
Zacks Equity Research
Shares of Meridian Bioscience, Inc.
VIVO
as the Bull of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on PayPal Holdings, Inc.
PYPL
, Microsoft Corporation
MSFT
and JPMorgan Chase & Co.
JPM
.
Here is a synopsis of all four stocks:
Bull of the Day
:
Meridian Bioscience
is a $900 million provider of diagnostic test kits for gastrointestinal and respiratory infectious diseases. The company is expected to grow sales 18% this year to $300 million. And as EPS estimates rise to $1.19 after COVID uncertainty, it’s back to a Zacks #1 Rank.
VIVO delivered a beat-and-raise September quarter (its Q4-FY20) in November, then in December announced submission of its application for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to the FDA for the company’s SARS-CoV-2 molecular diagnostic test on the Revogene platform. The company also received $1 million in NIH funding for its diagnostic test launch.
Meridian Guides Higher
On January 7, the company announced that it expects Q1-FY21 revenue to be approximately $92 million, compared to $47.4 million in the year ago quarter, reflecting an increase of approximately 94%. This growth is being driven by COVID-19 product related sales in the Life Science segment where revenue is expected to be approximately $62 million for the quarter, over 15% higher than current consensus.
Commenting on the news, Piper Sandler analyst Steven Mah reiterated an Overweight rating and $26 price target on VIVO shares after the company reported preliminary Q1 revenue well above Street expectations.
The analyst expects that COVID-19 testing will be durable, even with effective vaccines, as the country expands large-scale population testing to safely reopen the economy. Mah also believes Meridian’s shift to re-investing in internal R&D and acquisitions has positioned them well for long-term growth.
Since I love to research, invest in and talk about all kinds of medical science companies, be sure to catch my recent coverage of the CRISPR stocks like Editas Medicine and CRISPR Therapeutics — and the investor who beat everyone else at accumulating large positions in them…
Cathie Put the Wood to Wall Street: TSLA, SQ, ROKU, CRSP, BIDU
Meridian Under the Microscope
Meridian Bioscience develops, manufactures, distributes, and sells diagnostic test kits primarily for gastrointestinal and respiratory infectious diseases, and elevated blood lead levels worldwide. The company operates through Diagnostics and Life Science segments. They describe their mission as helping providers make better diagnostic decisions with a focus on gastrointestinal, neonatal, pediatrics, and respiratory conditions.
The Diagnostics segment offers testing platforms, including real-time PCR (polymerase chain reaction) amplification under the Revogene brand; isothermal DNA amplification under the Alethia brand; lateral flow immunoassay using fluorescent chemistry under the Curian brand; rapid immunoassay under the ImmunoCard and ImmunoCard STAT! brands; enzyme-linked immunoassays under the PREMIER brand; anodic stripping voltammetry under the LeadCare and PediaStat brands; and urea breath testing for H. pylori under the BreathID brand.
Diagnostic Players Find New Life Under COVID
I have written often in the past few months of specialized diagnostic companies like Quidel and Hologic as they build new revenue streams from SARS-CoV-2 testing. These revenue streams are likely sustainable as the virus mutates and requires modified tests.
And I recently bought shares of VIVO for the Zacks Healthcare Innovators portfolio because I liked the growth outlook for this small player in a rapidly expanding market for rapid diagnostics — including coronavirus testing which will continue to be part of our lives for years to come, even with vaccines.
While Meridian Bioscience is a David among diagnostic Goliaths, its long and fascinating history surprised me. From the company website…
In 1977, Bill Motto founded Meridian Bioscience on a $500 investment in his Cincinnati home’s basement. Meridian’s first product was distributing a rapid fungal test developed by the University of Kentucky. While calling on his hospital and research customers, Bill noticed there was no easy, clean way to transport patient samples. He developed the innovative Para-Pak stool transport system to meet this need.
As the product line grew, so did Meridian’s research and development, leading to a breakthrough in 1982 with a 10-minute rapid test for strep throat. Before the Meridian test, doctors would have to wait for two to three days for a culture result. Innovation continued as the company brought several cutting edge diagnostic technologies to market, including a DNA testing platform and first-of-their-kind tests for C. difficile, E. coli, H. pylori amongst others.
Bottom line on VIVO:
I always pay attention to small companies growing their sales rapidly as they could become acquisition targets by larger biopharma or MedTech players. Buying VIVO near $20 offers excellent risk/reward, with or without an M&A suitor.
Disclosure: I own shares of QDEL, HOLX, and VIVO for the Zacks Healthcare Innovators portfolio.
Additional content:
3 Stocks to Ride Bitcoin’s Record-Breaking Start to 2021
Bitcoin of late has climbed north to a new record high despite choppy trading sessions at the start of the year. Per data from Coin Metrics, as quoted in a
CNBC article
, the price of the top crypto crossed the coveted $35,000 mark on Tuesday night, touching an intraday high of $35,821.
Bitcoin did pare some gains on Wednesday but anyhow its latest rally indicated that institutional investors still have great interest in the world’s largest cryptocurrency. Lest we forget, institutional investors didn’t ignore the space last year as well.
Per the CNBC article, bitcoin surged more than 300% last year to reach at levels above $29,000. Interestingly, the article stated that JPMorgan Chase & Co.(JPM) recently said that the long-term price of bitcoin may climb to $146,000 as the cryptocurrency tries to win against gold as an “alternative” currency. Gold prices, by the way, also notched sizable gains last year.
Nevertheless, head of research at Blockchain.com, Garrick Hileman, as mentioned in a
businessinsider article
, recently said that the bitcoin market may touch $1 trillion this year as top hedge funds and money managers have now started to consider it as a reserve asset.
In fact, Garrick Hileman went on to say that some of the top institutional players like Jack Dorsey, BlackRock, Bill Miller and Stanley Druckenmiller have now begun to consider bitcoin’s reserve currency status more seriously. Notably, some of the market pundits believe that bitcoin should provide a hedge against the recent weakness in the dollar and may also provide a cushion against any inflation-related risks.
What’s more, many payment companies now have bitcoin as part of their balance sheet reserves. This in turn should egg on retail investors to take a keen interest in bitcoin, resulting in an uptick in demand for the cryptocurrency. It’s also worth pointing out that retail investors for quite some time had actually restrained from being part of the volatile bitcoin market amid the coronavirus pandemic.
By the way, things are even looking brighter for bitcoin as people across the world have now started to embrace blockchain technology, and the cryptocurrency is dependent on such technology. Blockchains have come a long way in a short period of time and are now being utilized in a number of ways, and their demand is only expected to perk up in the near term.
3 Stocks to Make the Most of the Bitcoin Boom
With bitcoin touching new highs, with many more expected to come in the near future, it’s imperative to watch out for stocks that can tap the rising bitcoin trend. Such companies are now set to make the most of the uptick in the value of the cryptocurrency as well as the technology that supports it, such as blockchain. Let us, now, look at three such stocks –
PayPal is now part of the cryptocurrency market after it said that its customers will be able to purchase and sell bitcoin by using their PayPal accounts. The company currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see
the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here
.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings has risen0.2% over the past 60 days. The company’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is a solid 18.7%. What’s more, the company’s expected earnings growth rate for the next five-year period is 20.9%.
Microsoft
time and again has been facing serious competition from rivals like Amazon in the cloud computing space. As a result, Microsoft has introduced Azure blockchain service, which is expected to lend the tech behemoth an edge over competitors.
The company currently has a Zacks Rank #3. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings has moved up5.3% over the past 90 days. The company’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is a superb 16.8%. Additionally, the company’s expected earnings growth rate for the next five-year period is 13.2%.
JPMorgan’s CEO Jamie Dimon hasn’t been particularly supportive of bitcoin trading. But still, he has been supportive of at least blockchain technology and the investment bank in fact has created its own cryptocurrency, JPM Coin. Nonetheless, the bank is currently relying heavily on blockchain technology to minimize the time needed to verify global payments.
The company currently has a Zacks Rank #1. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings has climbed7.3% over the past 60 days. The company’s expected earnings growth rate for the current quarter is a whopping 203.9%. To top it, the company’s expected earnings growth rate for the next five-year period is 5%.
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