Abiomed (ABMD) At 52-Week High: What's Driving The Stock?

Danvers, MA-based Abiomed,Inc.'s (NASDAQ:ABMD) share price scaled a new 52-week high of $142.95 on Jun 5, eventually closing a bit lower at $141.81. The company has gained 21.5% in the last six months, ahead of the S&P 500’s 9.2% gain. The stock has a market cap of $6.02 billion.

Comparison with Broader Industry

For the last three months, the company’s shares have consistently outperformed the Zacks categorized Medical - Instruments sub-industry. The stock has rallied 18.4%, outshining the sub-industry’s gain of 10.5%. The company’s five-year historical growth rate is also favorable at 83.4% as compared with 2.8% of the S&P 500 index and 9.3% of the broader industry.

Estimate Revision Trend

This Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company’s estimate revision trend for the current year is also favorable. In the past 60 days, four estimates have moved up with none moving in the opposite direction. The magnitude of estimate revision over the same time period increased around 7.9% to $1.78 per share.

ABIOMED, Inc. Price and Consensus

ABIOMED, Inc. Price and Consensus | ABIOMED, Inc. Quote

Catalysts

The market is upbeat about the introduction of company’s third-generation Impella CP heart pump which was announced last month. This new technology offers features for optimal care during a percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in high-risk patients known as a Protected PCI and for those intensive care unit patients treated with Impella heart pumps.

Also, the company recently declared that the first patient has been enrolled under the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved study, STEMI Door to Unloading (DTU), evaluating Impella CP system in acute myocardial infarction. This has positively influenced market sentiment.

As another breakthrough, a study has unveiled that the use of hemodynamic support with Impella 2.5 heart pump during high-risk percutaneous coronary intervention (HRPCI) reduces the risk of acute kidney injury (AKI) even for patients with preexisting kidney diseases and low ejection fraction (EF).

Following a strong fourth-quarter fiscal 2017 performance, the market is upbeat about the company’s promising 2018 revenue guidance which is indicative that this bullish trend will continue through the year. The company forecasts fiscal 2018 revenues in the range of $555 million to $575 million, marking an increase of 25–29% from the prior year.

Key Picks

A few better-ranked medical stocks are Align Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALGN) , Inogen, Inc. (NASDAQ:INGN) and Accelerate Diagnostics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXDX) . Notably, Align Technologyand Inogen sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), while Accelerate Diagnostics carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Align Technologyhas an expected long-term adjusted earnings growth of almost 22.8%. The stock added roughly 44.3% over the last three months.

Inogen has a long-term expected earnings growth rate of 17.5%. The stock has a solid one-year return of around 78.3%.

Accelerate Diagnostics has an expected long-term adjusted earnings growth of 30%. The stock added roughly 13.7% over the last three months.

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