What happened
Shares of the diabetes management giant DexCom (DXCM +0.99%) lost 23% of their value over the course of October, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.
DexCom's stock dipped last month for two core reasons:
- Early in the month, Wells Fargo analyst Larry Biegelsen slashed his 12-month price target on the stock from $420 to $350. Biegelsen cited increased competition and pricing pressure in the continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) space following the approval of Abbott Labs' Freestyle Libre 3 CGM in Europe. Abbott's CGM system is reportedly priced at $1,066 per year, whereas DexCom's G6 device runs about $2,496 per year. That's a major price difference, perhaps justifying Biegelsen's rather pessimistic outlook.
- Second, most healthcare stocks pulled back from their recent highs last month due to the uncertainty surrounding the U.S. presidential election. DexCom's shares clearly couldn't escape this marketwide trend. Most of the stock's hefty decline, after all, occurred in the final days of October.
Image source: Getty Images.
So what
DexCom's shares were at an all-time high of $456.23 per share earlier this year, thanks to the monstrous sales growth of its CGM products. However, the company's stock was valued at a sky-high price-to-sales ratio of 32. Now, DexCom's stock still isn't cheap following this healthy pullback. But the company's price-to-sales ratio is at least more reasonable at 21.5. In short, DexCom's stock was arguably due for a correction.
Now what
Is DexCom stock a worthwhile buy at these levels? This large-cap medical device company is a proven winner. Yes, the CGM space probably isn't going to support supercharged levels of growth for much longer. But DexCom's strong balance sheet should allow it to expand into other areas of diabetes care in the near future, and that's great news for long-term shareholders. All told, patient investors may indeed want to grab some shares of this elite healthcare giant soon.
