These are frustrating times for an ex-small-cap medical technology analyst like yours truly.

Sure, there are good companies to follow out there like Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG) and Foxhollow Technologies (NASDAQ:FOXH), but nothing that's really both high-potential yet dirt cheap. And while I realize the sector is somewhat cyclical as investor enthusiasm waxes and wanes, maybe Rule Breakers recommendation Aspect Medical Systems (NASDAQ:ASPM) is worth a look today.

Aspect is a different kind of medical device company. In fact, this company really isn't even about devices (even though it sells monitors and sensors). The real magic is in the proprietary algorithms that interpret brain signals and give anesthesiologists a clearer picture of the extent to which a patient is sedated/unconscious.

Like a good small med-tech'er, sales growth is pretty strong -- up 28% in this latest quarter, and disposables revenue (sensors in this case) was up 25%. Gross margins improved, and the company is profitable. It's not only profitable but, on a non-GAAP basis at least, considerably more profitable than a year ago. And although the company's products are already in place in nearly half of U.S. operating suites, the numbers suggest that it's not used in proportion to that placement -- in other words, there's still opportunity to capture more procedure share.

It's not often that you find a smaller company dominating its space, but here you go. Hospira (NYSE:HSP) is in the market, albeit a distant competitor. And while the company does face some patent expirations in '07 and '08, I don't know of too many other companies targeting this market.

The downside here could be valuation. Yes, Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX) owns a lot of the stock, and there's the possibility of follow-on applications for the depression and Alzheimer's markets. But the stock already carries a pretty hefty price-to-sales ratio (for all its flaws, price-to-sales is used a lot in small-cap med-tech valuation). Then again, the cash flow-based price target that I calculate looks considerably more interesting -- assuming that it can grow at a very high level for some time to come.

Last but not least, the company could be getting some inadvertent help later in the year. There's a movie coming out called Awake starring Jessica Alba and Hayden Christensen in which the new Darth Vader experiences anesthetic awareness (being awake and aware during a surgery) -- precisely the problem that Aspect Medical's technology is meant to stop. Now, who knows if this movie will bomb or not, but I can't help recalling a certain movie from about 30 years ago that has made some people terrified to this day of swimming in the ocean.

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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).