Bruker Corp (BRKR) At 52-Week High: What's Driving The Stock?

Headquartered in Billerica, MA, Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR) scaled a new 52-week high of $27.85 on May 22, eventually closing a bit lower at $26.62. The company has gained 18.9% over the past one month, better than the S&P 500’s 0.5%.

Average volume of shares traded over the last one year was remarkable at approximately 765K. The stock has a market cap of $4.20 billion.

Comparison with Broader Industry

For the majority of the last one month, the company’s share price has considerably outperformed the Zacks categorized Instruments - Scientific sub-industry. The stock has rallied 18.9% over the last one month, outshining the sub-industry’s return of 11.1%. The company’s five-year historical growth rate is also favorable at 8.5% as compared to 0.8% of the broader industry and 2.8% of the S&P 500 index.

Taking the stable stock performance into consideration, we expect Bruker Corp to gain ground in the coming quarters.

Bruker Corporation Price and Consensus

Bruker Corporation Price and Consensus | Bruker Corporation Quote

Estimate Revision Trend

This Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company’s estimate revision trend for the current year is favorable. Over the past 30 days, four estimates have moved up with no downward revision. The magnitude of estimate revision over the same time period increased around 0.9% to $1.09 per share.

Growth Catalysts

The 52-week high came on the back of several new initiatives, the most recent one being the launch of S8 TIGER Series 2– the next-generation Wavelength Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence (WDXRF) spectrometer. The S8 TIGER Series 2 is the most versatile WDXRF tool available for advanced quantitative elemental analysis in industrial and academic materials research as well as in industrial quality control (QC) of materials.

The market is also upbeat about Bruker’s new revolutionary approach for the analysis of microorganisms – the MALDI Biotyper. In line with this, the company launched MALDI Biotyper STAR-Carba in vitro diagnostics kit, the first CE-IVD marked assay for mass spec-based antibiotic resistance testing. The other recent launches within the MALDI group include MALDI PharmaPulse for high throughput for direct discovery on Rapiflex mass-spec system and Rapiflex MALDI-TOFTOF for detailed protein characterization in life science research and biopharmaceutical laboratories.

In Jan 2017, the company acquired Hysitron nanoindenting products which have started to contribute to its Nano Surfaces business.

Bruker’s strategic initiatives to improve its financial position have been also driving market sentiments. These initiatives include the divestiture of certain non-core businesses, outsourcing of various manufacturing activities and transferring or terminating operations at certain facilities. Also, management divested certain product lines as well as implemented and completed a restructuring program in the loss making Chemical and Applied Markets (CAM) division of Bruker CALID. Further, Bruker closed its BioSpin Rheinstetten manufacturing facility last year, which helped in bringing down expenses and driving profits. Lately, Bruker also initiated additional cost actions under its Daltonics business and is in the process of consolidating a factory, which should help drive profits by mid-2017.

The company also made technical and quality progress with its high temperature superconducting (HTS) tapes of late, which have significant long-term potential. Currently, Bruker expects HTS to boost its ultra-high field 1.2 gigahertz NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) business in 2018 and beyond. The aforementioned developments will drive its share in the NMR industry space and also its stock price.

Key Stocks

A few better-ranked stocks in the broader medical sector are Luminex Corporation (NASDAQ:LMNX) , Inogen, Inc. (NASDAQ:INGN) and Edward Lifesciences, Inc. (NYSE:EW) . Notably, Luminex and Inogen sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), while Edwards Lifesciences carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Luminex has an expected long-term adjusted earnings growth of almost 16.3%. The stock added roughly 9% 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 roughly 77.7%.

Edwards Lifesciences recorded a stellar EPS growth rate of almost 16% (last 3–5 years of actual earnings). The stock has a solid one-year return of roughly 12.4%.

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