Varian Medical (VAR) Releases FDA-Approved Eclipse 15.5

Varian Medical Systems (NYSE:VAR) recently announced the release of an FDA-approved treatment planning software — Eclipse 15.5. This will help clinicians treat with more accuracy and efficiency.

Eclipse 15.5 also provides treatment planning support for Varian's HyperArc Oncology Systems (HDRT) for efficient and automated delivery of complex stereotactic radiosurgery. HyperArc HDRT is a new type of radiosurgery treatment. Eclipse 15.5 offers Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) support to help physicians optimize and speedily calculate the dose.

Eclipse 15.5 features Multi-criteria optimization (MCO) which allows clinicians to explore the application of different clinical criteria. According to the company, According to the company, MCO focuses on finding the optimal plan faster for a given patient with minimal trial and error iterations.

In the last reported third quarter, Varian Medical’s revenues declined 1.9% at Oncology Systems. The company is consistently trying to turn around its Oncology Systems business.. Apart from the latest development, the company recently announced FDA clearance for its revolutionary Halcyon product. The company received orders from 10 countries for the system. In North America, the company signed an agreement with PetCure Oncology to bring an unprecedented level of care to pets suffering from cancer.

According to a report by Markets And Markets, the global oncology information system market is expected to reach a worth of $2.6 billion by 2019 at a CAGR of 8.5% from 2014 to 2019. Considering the huge potential of the market, we believe the latest development is a strategic fit.

Over the past three months, Varian Medical has outperformed the broader industry in terms of price. The company has returned 2.1%, comparing favorably with the sub-industry’s gain of 0.3%.

Estimate Revision Trend

The estimate revision trend has been favorable for the company. For the current year, two estimates moved north compared with one movement in the opposite direction over the last two months. As a result, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the full year has increased from $3.92 to $3.96 per share over the same period.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Varian Medicalcarries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A few better-ranked medical stocks are Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE:EW) , Amedisys, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMED) and IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX) . Edwards Lifesciences sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), while Amedisys and IDEXX carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) each. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Edwards Lifesciences has a long-term expected earnings growth rate of 15.2%. The stock has rallied roughly 19.8% over the last six months.

Amedisys has a long-term expected earnings growth rate of 18.2%. The stock has gained 5.7% over the last year.

IDEXX has a long-term expected earnings growth rate of 19.8%. The stock has gained around 45% over the last year.

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