For a company that has been waiting for a key FDA approval since the beginning of the year and lost out on its attempt to acquire Medicis (NYSE:MRX), medical aesthetics specialist Mentor (NYSE:MNT) has held up reasonably well. The question now, though, is whether the company will deliver the growth that investors seem to expect.
Mentor has certainly undergone some change. The company sold its urology business to Coloplast for $463 million, and is now focused exclusively on aesthetic markets like breast augmentation, liposuction, and dermal treatments.
It hasn't hurt results all that much, though, since the company posted 7% revenue growth and flat adjusted income from continuing operations. Certainly that "adjusted" part means that earnings quality has changed, as you have to add back various "rationalization" charges and stock option expense. On a strict reported basis, operating income fell about 19% from last year.
Wall Street is almost always a forward-looking entity, and that's particularly true with Mentor. While the company continues to grow share in the breast-implant market (its chief rival being Allergan (NYSE:AGN)), a lot of future growth hinges on a favorable ruling from the FDA regarding a new silicone breast implant. The odds seem to favor approval at this point, but a negative decision (or a further delay) would certainly be bad news for the stock.
Other projects will take even more time to materialize. The company's Puragen Plus dermal filler won't be completely filed with the FDA until the first half of 2007, and a botox product is even further back in development. If there's going to be a positive change in near-term growth, it will have to come from acquisitions -- and the company certainly has the cash on the balance sheet to do a deal if management finds a suitable target.
To me it seems as though the Street is already giving Mentor credit for getting that breast implant approval and stimulating growth on the acquisition front. That may be a reasonable assumption, but it doesn't leave a lot of undervaluation. Mentor may be a fine company that seldom trades cheap, but I still wouldn't chase after it.
For more medical missives:
- Growth Ingrates Dump Intuitive Surgical
- Sales and Marketing Slam Syneron
- Mentor Needs Some Prettying Up
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Fool contributor Stephen Simpson has no financial interest in any stocks mentioned (that means he's neither long nor short the shares).
