Patient investors can often ignore the market's short-term volatility while waiting to see how their investment thesis unfolds. Sometimes, the party has already started, and companies are beginning to see their long-term plans come to fruition. In fact, that might be an ideal time to initiate a starter position to minimize your risk.
Let's look at two companies with products already on the market that are gaining traction. With both positive momentum and significant addressable markets, ShockWave Medical (SWAV 0.01%) and Outset Medical (OM 4.17%) are in all-out growth mode.
ShockWave Medical
ShockWave Medical is looking to make stenting clogged arteries easier. By using sonic pressure, or shockwaves, its device cracks calcium deposits across a variety of locations within the body, including the legs, heart valves, and coronary arteries. This enables stent placement in segments of the blood vessels that would otherwise be difficult if not outright impossible to perform.
It looks safe as well -- with 92.2% of patients without significant events 30 days after the procedure in a difficult-to-treat population. The market is sizable too. This $7.7 billion medtech company believes it has an $8.5 billion addressable market ahead of it.
The calcium cracking company is off to a healthy start. In fiscal 2021, revenue soared 250% year over year to $237.1 million. Much of this was attributable to its coronary intervention product, C2, and the associated one-time-use accessories that the company sells, first entering the U.S. market in February 2021. Early indications are that the product is a hit with an impressive 83% of fourth-quarter revenue from repeat customers. ShockWave expects continued growth ahead, projecting 71% to 79% revenue growth in fiscal 2022, equating to $405 to $425 million.
Image source: Getty Images.
This innovator looks well-positioned financially too. ShockWave increased its gross margins from 69% in 2020 to 83% in 2021, driven by improvements in production processes and greater absorption of fixed costs by way of higher production. With hearty margins and a net loss of only $9.1 million for the most recent fiscal year vs. a $65.7 million loss in 2020, it is likely to be profitable within the next few years. And that's after more than doubling its research and development staff from 40 to 100 employees in 2021.
With profitability in the foreseeable future, fantastic margins, and strong growth in a massive market with no significant calcium cracking competition within its vascular markets, ShockWave's focus could provide healthy returns for investors over the next decade.
Outset Medical
With its Tablo dialysis technology, Outset Medical is reducing the cost and complexity of both in-hospital and at-home dialysis. This innovative healthcare company is taking these respective $2.5 billion and $8.9 billion markets head-on. The U.S. dialysis market is expected to grow 30% by 2030. With 7% of the Medicare budget spent on dialysis for chronic kidney failure patients, even though they represent only 1% of the Medicare population, Uncle Sam has taken notice too.
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services has determined Outset Medicals' Tablo to be a substantial clinical improvement over current home dialysis methodologies. With that came multiple incentives to start patients on home treatments. These are major tailwinds for the company, which has already started to reap the rewards. This dialysis disrupter saw revenue jump 106% to $102.6 million in fiscal 2021. It's projecting 38% to 46% revenue growth in 2022.
The company's backlog of units has more than doubled in a year, reaching 1,251 at the end of last year. With seven of the eight largest health systems and a third of the 100 largest regional systems using the Tablo system, the company already has its foot in the door and is looking to expand its installed base.
Early indications are that all parties involved love Tablo. It has sky-high rates of home treatment compliance with 99% adherence to the prescribed home treatment regimen. Among nephrologists, 98% said they were more likely to recommend home dialysis due to Tablo's benefits, and 77% of patients said they were more likely to try home treatments because of this system.
Moreover, it provides 55% cost savings compared to current alternatives for hospital systems. Put it all together, and it's easy to see a major convergence of positives powering shareholder returns of this $2.2 billion healthcare company over the next several years.
