Patterson Companies-SprintRay Deal To Boost Dental Unit

Patterson Companies’ (NASDAQ:PDCO) division Patterson Dental recently announced a distribution agreement with SprintRay. The deal aims to offer high-resolution desktop 3D printers, resins, and accessories to dental practitioners in the United States and Canada.

Patterson Companies has been working on strategies to emphasize ‘digitization of dentistry’. The company leverages on the industry’s most experienced and advanced service and support structure to strengthen its dental unit. The rollout of its enterprise resource planning ("ERP") system in the dental segment deserves a mention in this regard.

Getting back to the deal, SprintRay is based in Los Angeles and offers high resolution 3D printers along with a variety of resins and accessories. This company also provides top quality resins for a variety of industries and applications including dentistry, engineering, prototyping, art, and design.

Per the agreement, Patterson Dental will distribute SprintRay’s complete range of solutions, including the MoonRay desktop 3D printer.

Notably, the agreement took effect on Nov 1, immediately benefitting Patterson Dental’s customers in the United States and Canada. Direct technical support to customers will be provided by SprintRay.Patterson Companies has been expanding its business through strategic acquisitions of dental products distributors in the regions.

Developments in Dental Platform

The Patterson Dental segment distributes consumable products, basic and advanced technology dental equipment, practice management and clinical software, patient education systems and related stationeries in the United States and Canada. The company’s customers include dentists, dental laboratories, institutions and other healthcare professionals.

In the last reported second quarter, dental sales (40% of total sales) declined 8.4% at cc year over year owing to lower sales of CEREC and digital technology products.

However, the company is consistently trying to make its dental segment turn around. In line with this, the company signed a distribution agreement with Align Technology in August. Per the non-exclusive agreement, Align Technology’s iTero Element intraoral scanning system will be available as part of Patterson Dental’s CAD/CAM portfolio in the United States and Canada.

Also, Patterson Dental announced an agreement with developer-manufacturer 3Shape to distribute the company's line of award-winning 3Shape TRIOS 3D intraoral scanners as well as its related software for dental practices including 3Shape Orthodontics, 3Shape Design Studio and 3Shape Implant Studio in August.

Stock Performance Solid

Over the last month, Patterson Companies has gained 6.6%, higher than the broader industry’s addition of 3.5%. Moreover, the current level is higher than the S&P 500's gain of 1.9%.

Market Prospects

According to a report by Statista, the global dental market is expected to reach a worth of around $37 billion by 2021. The CAGR for the period 2016-2021 is projected at 5.6%. Thus, Patterson Companies clearly has bountiful prospects in this market.

Zacks Rank and Key Picks

Patterson Companies carries a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).

A few better-ranked medical stocks are PetMed Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:PETS) , Align Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALGN) and Myriad Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:MYGN) . Notably, PetMed, Align Technology and Myriad Genetics sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

PetMed has a long-term expected earnings growth rate of 10%. The stock has rallied roughly 81.2% over a year.

Align Technology has a long-term expected earnings growth rate of 28.9%. The stock has gained 134.6% in a year.

Myriad Genetics has a long-term expected earnings growth rate of 15%. The stock has gained 93.7% in a year.

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