Health and Healthcare

4 Well-Known Health Care Stocks Are Potential Buyout Candidates

Lee Jackson

Published: March 18, 2016 10:15 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 11:47 am

It happens every year, and 2016 won’t be any different. Larger companies looking to add to growth, in addition to that of the organic or internal variety, scan the field for purchases and acquisitions that are easy to bolt on and could add returns in a timely fashion. This year the process may even speed up some as the market sell-off that happened through the first two months may have already put some companies in the sights of acquirers, despite the recent market rally.

In what is a yearly and very all-encompassing report, the analysts at RBC again go through every sector looking for possible takeover candidates. Last year, the company’s takeover screens yielded 29 candidates that eventually were acquired over the following 12 months.

One screen that should be of interest to many investors is the potential buyout candidates in the health care. With an aging population, and larger companies looking to add new technologies and capabilities, the chances for mergers and acquisitions activity to jump are very real. We found four on the RBC screen that are very well known.

Haemonetics

This company may be a very solid fit for a big devices player. Haemonetics Corp. (NYSE: HAE) is a global health care company dedicated to providing innovative blood management solutions for customers. It devices and consumables, information technology platforms, and consulting services deliver a suite of business solutions to help customers improve patient care and reduce the cost of health care for blood collectors, hospitals and patients around the world. Its technologies address important medical markets: blood and plasma component collection, the surgical suite and hospital transfusion services.

Haemonetics trades at 10 times enterprise value (EV) to EBITDA and posts gross margins of 48%. These are the metrics that the RBC team uses when looking for potential takeover candidates. The company also boasts EBIT margins of 12%. The Thomson/First Call consensus price target for the stock is $36.33. The shares closed Thursday at $33.36.

This company made the RBC list last year and remains a solid candidate. Luminex Corp. (NASDAQ: LMNX) is transforming global health care and life-science research through the development, manufacturing and marketing of proprietary instruments and assays utilizing xMAP open-architecture multi-analyte platform, MultiCode real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and multiplex PCR-based technologies that deliver cost-effective rapid results to clinicians and researchers.

Luminex’s technology is commercially available worldwide and in use in leading clinical laboratories, as well as major pharmaceutical, diagnostic, biotechnology and life science companies. Luminex is meeting the needs of customers in markets as diverse as clinical diagnostics; pharmaceutical drug discovery; biomedical research, including genomic and proteomic research; personalized medicine; biodefense research; and food safety.

The company trades 12.1 times EV/EBITDA and posted gross margins of 69%. The EBIT margin stood at 16%. The consensus price target is $20.50, and shares closed most recently at $19.21.

Merit Medical Systems

This is yet another top company that RBC had on the list last year. Merit Medical Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: MMSI) is engaged in the development, manufacture and distribution of proprietary disposable medical devices used in interventional and diagnostic procedures, particularly in cardiology, radiology and endoscopy. Merit serves client hospitals worldwide with a domestic and international sales force totaling approximately 200 individuals. Merit employs approximately 3,700 people worldwide.

Merit Medical Systems trades at 12.6 times EV/EBITDA, and it has gross margins of 43% and EBIT margins of 7%. The consensus price objective is $823.50. The stock closed Thursday at $17.62.

NuVasive

This company has been a popular name when it comes to potential merger or takeover chatter for years. NuVasive Inc. (NASDAQ: NUVA) is an innovative global medical device company that is transforming spine surgery with minimally disruptive surgical products and procedurally integrated solutions for the spine.

NuVasive has emerged from a small startup to become the number three player in the $9 billion global spine market and remains focused on market share-taking strategies as the company continues on its path to become the industry’s leading spine company. NuVasive offers a comprehensive spine portfolio of more than 90 unique products developed to improve spine surgery and patient outcomes. Its principal procedural solution is its Maximum Access Surgery, a platform for lateral spine fusion.

The company trades 11.6 times EV/EBITDA and posted gross margins of 68%. The EBIT margin stood at 13%. The consensus price target is $53.94, and shares closed Thursday at $45.36.

While there is no guarantee that any of these companies get purchased, they all stand out on their own merits. While only suitable for aggressive growth accounts, they make good sense as takeover candidates or standalone entities.