Medical Product Stocks Q1 Earnings Slated On May 5: VWR, SNN

Per the latest Earnings Outlook, the Q1 reporting cycle which is almost at its last lap, so far has depicted a bullish run. Till May 3, 358 S&P members (78.2% of the total market cap) reported their quarterly numbers with the remaining expected to report by the middle of next week. Total earnings for these 358 members have gone up 12.9% on 7.9% higher revenues.

The healthcare space too is riding on this bullish trend. This comes as a surprise, as investors were much concerned about this sector which struggled a lot during the past three months, thanks to the political power change and the ongoing policy restructuring related battle.

Uncertainty within the medical space is high regarding whether Trump finally amends the earlier proposed American Health Care Act (AHCA) or totally repeals and replaces Obamacare. The House has scheduled for a vote with one more effort to roll back Obamacare. A further visibility on the whole matter may be obtained following this.

This lack of visibility fails to affect the bullish trend the Medical sector (one of the 16 broader Zacks sectors) has been witnessing over the past few quarters. So far in the quarter, 84.5% of the members from this sector reported their quarterly earnings releases with earnings and revenue beat standing at very impressive levels of 87.2% and 69.2%, respectively.

What’s in Store for the Medical Product Space?

Medical - Products, an important part of the medical device subcategory within the broader Medical sector, holds a lot of promise at this moment. In fact, supporters for the Republican alternative argue that if the proposed amendment of AHCA is implemented, more people would be covered as a portion of the cost would be borne by the government. Needless to mention, this may lead to broadening of the customer base for the MedTech companies, which could have otherwise suffered.

Let’s take a look at the major Medical products stocks slated to release their first-quarter 2017 reports on May 5:

VWR CORP (NASDAQ:VWR) : Headquartered in Radnor, PA, VWR Corporation is an independent worldwide provider of products, services and solutions to laboratory and production facilities. We note that, based on a series of initiatives taken of late, VWR has showed balanced growth in the Americas and EMEA-APAC organically in the recent times.

However, our proven model does not conclusively show that VWR is likely to beat earnings this quarter. A stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for an earnings beat. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

That is not the case here. VWR currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 and has an Earnings ESP of 0.00%. Though a favorable Zacks Rank increases the predictive power of ESP, we need a positive ESP to be confident about an earnings beat. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Smith & Nephew (LON:SN) plc (NYSE:SNN) : This renowned worldwide medical technology company has leadership positions in Orthopaedic Reconstruction, Advanced Wound Management, Sports Medicine and Trauma & Extremities.

However, our proven model does not conclusively show that the stock is likely to beat earnings this quarter as along with a Zacks Rank #3, it has an Earnings ESP of 0.00%.

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