Canaccord Genuity Remains Bullish On EnteroMedics Following Q4 Earnings

Healthcare company NASDAQ: EnteroMedics Inc (NASDAQ:ETRM) reported its fourth quarter 2014 earnings result on Wednesday, February 18th after market close, coming in slightly ahead of analysts’ expectations.

Highlights from the report include a net loss of $6.2 million, or $0.09 per share. The profit loss was due to Operating expenses for clinical trials and commercialization of VBLOC, the company’s treatment for weight loss.

On January 14th, Enteromedics announced it was granted FDA approval for VBLOC, delivered via the Maestro® System, for patients 18 and older. This is the first treatment to cater to obesity that has been approved by the FDA in over a decade.

By December 31, 2014, the Company raised $11.6 million through cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments. So far this year, Enteromedics has raised about $6.4 million.

Greg S. Lea, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Enteromedics said of the company’s Q4 results, "Execution of our commercial strategy is well underway following the FDA approval that was received earlier this year…We believe that our current resources will permit us to start to build the necessary infrastructure, invest in inventory, fund product improvements and implement process changes to support our commercial strategy. As we achieve our early commercial objectives, we will continue to review actions required to strengthen our balance sheet to support the growth requirements of our strategy into 2016."

Canaccord Genuity analyst William Plovanic reiterated a Buy rating on Enteromedics following the company’s Q4 earnings results with a $4 price target. He stated, “We reiterate our BUY rating and $4 price target on EnteroMedics following the Q4/14 results. The quarterly results came in slightly better than expected but the prevailing highlight was initial commercialization efforts post FDA approval early in the Q1/15.”

William Plovanic has rated Enteromedics 11 times since June 2011, earning a 50% success rate recommending the stock and a +18.7% average return per recommendation. Overall, the analyst has a 71% success rate recommending stocks and a +21.1% average return per recommendation.




Plovanic has a lot of experience rating healthcare stocks, such as Globus Medical (NYSE:GMED) and DexCom Inc (NASDAQ:DXCM). The analyst has rated Globus Medical 8 times since December 2012, earning a 100% success rate recommending the company and a +25.1% average return per recommendation. Likewise, Plovanic has rated Dexcom 11 times since July 2011 when an 82% success rate recommending the stock and a +56.6% average return per recommendation.

However, Plovanic has not always made the best recommendations as he has rated Insulet Corporation (NASDAQ:PODD) 12 times since June 2012 with a 45% success rate and a +6.1% average return.



Do you trust William Plovanic’s latest recommendation based on his financial advice history?