| Remaining Stereotaxis Investors Stay Optimistic On Vdrive |
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| By Brian Wilson, Lead Contributor |
| Thursday, 01 November 2012 00:14 |
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Shares are down around 80% since the start of the year, and down around 98% since the company's IPO which was held in 2004. As bad as things have gotten for STXS investors, a recent counter-rally that started on October 22nd on heavy volume could help erase some of the losses. The optimism is associated with the arrival of Dr. Euan Thomson onto the Board of Directors. Dr. Thomson was previously the President and CEO of the medical device company Accuray, and is perceived by the market to be a big potential asset to the struggling company. Stereotaxis' management issues go a long way back, but recent bearishness can be largely attributed to the company's former CFO Dan Johnston, who left the company on August 15th 2011 “to pursue other professional interests.” CEO Michael Kaminski, who's still leading the company, didn't really make any specific comments but discussed the company's intention to raise more cash with minimal share dilution. It's also worth noting that Stereotaxis was, and is not, a profitable company. CEO Kaminski has addressed the issue with a promise to continually reduce operating losses, but the stock's price action in the last year makes it apparent that investors worry about the company's ability to ever become profitable. Although investors in the healthcare sector are notorious for their patience, companies that cannot profit from their already marketed products are doomed. Does that imply that Stereotaxis is headed towards eventual bankruptcy? Not necessarily. Stereotaxis markets something known as the EPOCH platform, which is the latest version of their remote-controlled system for catheter management during cardiac ablation surgery. Cardiac ablation is a procedure used to fix heart rhythm problems, more formally known as cardiac arrhythmia (also referred to as “irregular heartbeat” by some). Heart disease still remains the number one cause of death in the United States (at roughly 600,000 fatalities per year according to the CDC), and an enormous 850,000 or so patients get hospitalized for cardiac arrythmia each year. Cardiac ablation, being one of the major recommended therapies for overly fast heartbeats (defined as a heartbeat above 100 or so beats per minute), is a very popular surgery and offers enormous market potential. Stereotaxis actually markets three products that have seen very different performance in the market. Niobe ES is their high-tech catheter, which offers real-time control and computer-assisted movements that traditional soft catheters don't have. Then there is the Odyssey, which is a computer screen interface which allows physicians to “manage clinical information”. Lastly, there are disposable soft magnetic catheters that are less likely to damage heart tissue during the surgery itself according to the company's statements. It seems that the disposable catheters have been the most popular this year. Disposable catheter sales have compensated for the financial shortfalls fof Niobe and Odyssey. Company management was extremely optimistic after the launch of EPOCH in December 2011, which introduced some new features, but sales have been lacking. According to Q2 2012 results from August, the company earned $10.5 million in revenue compared to $11.6 million in Q2 2012. Even if the company continued to generate new Niobe ES system sales this year, they are actually losing customers at an even faster rate. Note that in Q2 2012, the company had one less Niobe ES system sold than it did in Q2 2011. This also deteriorates the company's service revenue, which makes up much of their $6.6 million in quarterly recurring revenue – a big problem to their future earning power. The fact that the EPOCH system struggles to retain customers (or bring the company profits) should be alarming to any STXS shareholder, but there seems to be some hope regarding Stereotaxis' upcoming Vdrive device. The Vdrive makes surgery even more sterile, and enables surgeons to manipulate catheters better, which reduces the length of the surgery. More importantly, it seems to be quite popular in Europe, where it has been cleared for commercialization (along with Canada). "Featured Content" profiles are meant to provide awareness of these companies to investors in the small-cap and growth equity community and should not in any way come across as a recommendation to buy, sell or hold these securities. BiomedReports is not paid or compensated by newswires to disseminate or report news and developments about publicly traded companies, but may from time to time receive compensation for advertising, data, analytics and investor relation services from various entities and firms. Full disclosures should be read in the 'About Us Section'. Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites            |
Investors who have been holding onto shares of Stereotaxis Inc. (NASDAQ: STXS) this year have seen nothing but misery.Newsletter
