In this clip from "The Rank" on Motley Fool Live, recorded on Feb. 7, Motley Fool contributors Taylor Carmichael and Jason Hall discuss their thoughts on DexCom (NASDAQ:DXCM) and share the reasons why it makes for a strong stock pick despite challenges.
Taylor Carmichael: DexCom is continuous glucose monitoring for people that have diabetes and maybe pre-diabetes, but definitely diabetes. It replaces the needle pricks so you no longer have to stab yourself with a needle to check your blood sugar levels. It goes underneath the skin, very simple application, and it continually checks how you're doing. It's basically a duopoly. The last time I checked it was with Abbott Labs (ABT 0.10%). Abbott Labs has come out several years ago with their competing product. And Abbott Labs, they are a bigger company, they might actually have passed them in sales now. But DexCom has just been a huge, amazing stock. They have their recurring revenues. They have the subscribers that come over and over. They are at the high end of the continuing glucose monitoring segment. They have the best technology. Not to make the Abbott guys mad, but I think that DexCom has the high-end and the most specific. If your health insurance provider will pay for DexCom, that's probably where most people are going to go I think. It has been just a wonderful stock. It is a one-trick pony, so if we ever discover a cure for diabetes or a drug that takes it away then the stock will just be hammered. But they have been a wonderful stock for many years and I think it'll be a wonderful stock for the next 10 years. I remain very bullish on DexCom.
Jason Hall: Yeah, it's a great business and a wonderful product. Nick Sciple's another Fool who's been a big fan of this company in the past. To me, it comes back to the valuation argument. I think it's gotten very expensive. Even though it does have some serious competitive moats, it definitely does, and I think that the larger trend is that diabetes is going to be a bigger problem before it's going to be less of a problem over the next decade. But, I rated it lower because I think there are going to be challenges and threats. It does have a strong IP portfolio. It's got that patent protection that's going to be around for a while, but I'm not as big of a believer that it can continue. I think it's going to be a winning business, I just don't think the returns are going to be quite as good.
