As a growth investor, the key to building wealth is to buy decent companies in industries with compelling growth stories and hold for the long haul.
Due to the launch of new and advanced medical devices to fill unmet needs, few industries will be able to match the growth of the medical devices industry moving forward. Research firm Precedence Research anticipates that the global medical devices market will compound at roughly 5.5% each year from 2022 to 2030, reaching $850 billion.
In such a vast industry, there's plenty of room for smaller companies to thrive alongside the more established players. With a $545 million market capitalization, the peripheral vascular disease and cancer treatment medical device maker AngioDynamics (ANGO -3.32%) looks like it could do well in the years to come. Here are three reasons why.
1. Logging top-line growth amid unfavorable circumstances
The New York-based company boasts a diversified portfolio of products. These include its minimally invasive treatment for advanced and inoperable cancers known as NanoKnife, the peripheral artery disease treatment called Auryon, and the AlphaVac System that treats blood clots.
AngioDynamics generated $81.5 million in net sales during its fiscal first quarter, which ended Aug. 31, which was equivalent to a 5.9% year-over-year growth rate. This may not seem impressive for a growth stock, but given the issues that the company faced in the quarter, I would argue this is a respectable growth rate.
The company's med device segment reported $58.7 million in net sales for the quarter. This was down 1.1% over the year-ago period, which was the result of staffing challenges at hospitals. Since procedure volumes for AngioDynamics' med device products depend on adequate staffing at hospitals, this explained the uninspiring performance of the segment during the quarter.
The good news for AngioDynamics is that net sales from its med tech segment surged 29.6% higher year-over-year to $22.8 million in the quarter. The segment's overall share of net sales grew from 22.9% in the year-ago quarter to 28% in the first quarter.
Steve Trowbridge, AngioDynamics' chief financial officer, expects the med tech segment to deliver 30% to 35% annual net sales growth in the long term. That's opposed to the 1% to 3% rate that Trowbridge is predicting for the med device segment. As the company's net sales mix becomes more oriented toward med tech over time, this should lead to an acceleration in AngioDynamics' total net sales growth.
Image source: Getty Images.
2. The company has a viable expansion plan
AngioDynamics' robust growth projections are based on its plan to grow its U.S. addressable market from $5 billion in its current fiscal year (FY 2023) to $8 billion by FY 2025. The company believes it can do this by launching additional indications for its AlphaVac System and NanoKnife franchises. And with $24.6 million in cash on hand and $75 million available via revolving credit, AngioDynamics has the liquidity to finance new product launches.
3. The stock has a favorable valuation
Thanks to AngioDynamics' thriving med tech segment, analysts are forecasting 8.3% net sales growth in fiscal year 2023 and 8.4% net sales growth in FY 2024. And at the current $14 per-share price, the stock doesn't appear to be fully priced for its growth. AngioDynamics' price-to-sales ratio for this fiscal year is just 1.6, which makes it an attractive buy for growth investors.
