Leading teledentistry company SmileDirectClub (SDC) has signed a partnership with big insurer Anthem (ELV 1.32%) Blue Cross and Blue Shield. The insurance company will provide in-network coverage of SmileDirectClub's remote orthodontic solutions for its policy holders.
The deal is the company's latest in a series of arrangements with major health insurance providers. SmileDirectClub also has such partnerships with CVS Health's insurance unit Aetna and UnitedHealthcare from UnitedHealth Group.
Image source: SmileDirectClub.
"The relationships with these three major payers will continue to create new opportunities for in-network dentists and orthodontists to treat their patients with remote orthodontic care," SmileDirectClub wrote in the press release trumpeting the partnerships. It did not, however, provide any estimates on how these relationships might affect its revenue and/or earnings.
The healthcare company's profile has risen because of the remote orthodonture solutions in which it specializes. Such distanced commerce is in vogue among both consumers and investors because of the many social distancing and stay-in-place mandates in effect throughout the world as a result of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus outbreak.
Holding SmileDirectClub back from wider popularity is that it has been consistently unprofitable on the bottom line. Although that is fairly typical for a young company (it had its IPO last September), some of those deficits have been considerable. In SmileDirectClub's Q4 of fiscal 2019, to cite its most recent set of results, the company booked a per-share net loss that was more than twice as deep as the average analyst estimate.
On Wednesday, investors chose to accentuate the positive about SmileDirectClub's latest news. They bid the company's shares up by 10.5% on the day, which exceeded the gains of the broader stock market.
