Irvine-based Masimo Corp. has been a steady Wall Street performer this year, and the growth should continue into 2014, according to an industry observer.
Masimo makes patient monitoring devices used in hospitals and other settings. The company’s shares are up 34% to a market value of about $1.6 billion since the start of the year.
Author Andy Batts, writing on the investor Website Seeking Alpha, called Masimo a “low-risk stock that investors should consider buying around the current level.”
Batts specifically mentioned Masimo’s SpHb monitoring, which he called “the first and only FDA-approved technology that continuously measures blood hemoglobin without a painful needle stick.” He predicted that SpHb “is expected to open new markets and significantly expand the company’s growth opportunities.”
The article also touched on Masimo’s core pulse oximetry business.
A pulse oximeter attaches to a patient’s finger or toe and measures oxygen levels in the blood. It’s used to monitor saturation levels and protect against oxygen deficiency in arterial blood, known as hypoxemia.
Pulse oximetry is predicted to grow at a compound annual rate of nearly 5.6%, according to market tracker MarketResearchReports.biz.
The field “is witnessing impressive growth due to a rise in the aging population, not only in the developed countries, but also in developing countries,” Batts said.
“Asia displays a high [compound annual growth rate] owing to the rapidly increasing aging population in China, Japan and India,” Batts wrote.
Alliance Talks Medicare Changes
Newport Beach-based Alliance HealthCare Services Inc. said this month that it predicts its Medicare reimbursement for 2014 will drop by some $2.8 million. Alliance provides radiology and radiation therapy services in mobile and fixed sites.
Alliance issued its information after it reviewed the final Medicare reimbursement rates the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued Nov. 27.
“This is a manageable amount and will not hinder our business or our focus on expanding our relationships and providing added value to our hospital partners,” Howard Aihara, Alliance’s vice president and chief financial officer, said in a news release.
Alliance has seen a sizable run-up of its shares on Wall Street this year. It’s up 230% since the start of the year to a market value of about $237.5 million as of mid-December.
The company’s gain on Wall Street has paralleled continued losses totaling $17.5 million on about $338 million in revenue through the first nine months of the year. Alliance hasn’t announced a date for the release of results for the current quarter and 2013.
Patient Monitor Maker Moves
Japanese medical device maker Nihon Kohden Corp.’s U.S. arm has moved from Foothill Ranch to a new building in the Irvine Spectrum. The company makes patient monitors and other devices.
Nihon Kohden America’s new building has 51,000 square feet and is near the intersection of Barranca Parkway and Technology Drive.
The company said in a news release that it moved because it had outgrown its previous facility. It said the new building includes a showroom that displays its product lines, including patient monitoring, neurology and cardiology.
Nihon Kohden America’s Orange County employee figures weren’t available.
It’s positioning its devices and business model as being able to help hospitals navigate healthcare reform.
Devices include Enterprise Monitoring, which the company said can integrate with the vast majority of electronic medical records systems.
Parent Nihon Kohden Corp. recorded $653.5 million in sales in the six-month period ended Sept. 30. That includes $135.3 million in overseas sales, $54.5 million of which are from the Americas.
CalOptima Joins State Healthcare Plan
Orange-based CalOptima said this month that its board of directors approved its participation in a new state-run health insurance plan for people who are eligible for Medi-Cal and Medicare coverage.
Cal MediConnect combines Medicare and Medi-Cal into a single health plan. There are some 77,000 people known as “dual eligible” in the county, and CalOptima estimates that Cal MediConnect could be an option for 50,000 of those.
“We can save taxpayer money by combining two government programs and using proven managed care principles,” Mark Refowitz, the agency’s board chairman, said in a news release.
The plan will begin serving its members no earlier than April 1. CalOptima said the plan is by choice and that people can opt out at any time if they don’t want to participate.
Bits and Pieces
Fountain Valley-based MemorialCare Health System said its MemorialCare Medical Group and Greater Newport Physicians were named among the state’s best medical groups by the Bay Area-based Integrated Healthcare Association. … Newport Beach-based equity investor KESA Partners said it formed NuCollagen LLC in San Diego. NuCollagen will make laboratory and medical-grade cGMP bovine collagen for the medical device, in-vitro diagnostic and regenerative medicine markets.
