LeMaitre - who knows what their issues are. Overwhelmingly they're a small outfit compared with Edwards.
This is what they said:
"The recent CardioCel patch acquisition allows us to leverage our expertise in manufacturing and distributing biologics, while gaining access to a new customer, the cardiac surgeon. Separately, we're currently launching cardiac allografts in the U.S. and Canada, leveraging the 2016 RestoreFlow acquisition. We are also setting up to distribute RestoreFlow vascular allografts in Europe in H2 2020.
This will be a first for us. 2019 was a bounce back year. Organic growth improved to 6% and the four acquisitions of 2018, 2019 performed better than expected. All four purchases were in familiar categories, embolectomy catheters, polyester grafts, valvulotomes and bovine patches."
So Bean counters won out over perceived risk. The article goes on to talk about how they've edged up into
"2019, with adjusted op income growth of 3% and versus a 2% decline in 2018. Excluding the effects of the strong dollar, adjusted operating income grew 8% in 2019. We as our guidance indicated, we expect this momentum will extend into 2020 with 10% sales growth and 17% operating income growth. A quick note on dividends.Our board has just increased the payout for the ninth straight year this time by 12%.
If we raise dividends in Q1 2021, I believe we gain entry into the Dividend Achievers Index, a 10-year version of the well-known 25-year Dividend Aristocrats Index. I highlighted our history of growing dividends to underscore how we will continue to focus on op income and cash flow growth. Cariocel patches were a big investment but they did others at the same time. The bean counters may have perceived too much risk for a full partnering with Admedus. They may not understand the risks with TAVR 3D are lower than what may appear. Bean counters don't get this sort of thing." - JJ Pellegrino -- Chief Financial Officer
Big bluddy whoop. They're fixated on getting into a dividend payers index! This JJ Pelelgrino does not have the mind of an entrepreneurial genius. Bounce back year indeed. They're fixated on soothing worried investors so they let a huge opportunity slip by. HUGE.
This would not be the first time bean counters have got in the way of a good move. Teva's takeover of Cephalon which was partnered with MSB is a classic. They simply didn't understand what they had. So they only funded one clinical trial over several. This put them both backwards. In the end, Teva messed up by spreading their investments with many drug trials, completely messing up because drug trials are expensive and MSB has stem cells. Much lower risk. Now proven with fast tracking, and clinical trials basically by passing patient risk. Smaller cohorts. Teva had sweet NFI. The drug trials failed. As they do. Because they're inherently more risky than stem cells. But stem cells are new. They just didn't do their homework. It was an opportunistic takeover.
Because this is a complex field it's easy for the bean counters to conclude they're spreading risk and avoiding too many eggs in the one basket. This is often a mistake. Actually in the MSB case I called them 'bone headed number crunchers'.
They're an inferior species, basically and they don't have a mindset to fully understand risk, they're not driven to fully understand it and overcome their fears. It's more often a perception of risk than reality. LeMaitre was simply fixated on getting the returns in for 2019. They say it themselves. I think our Chairman and CEO do. They have got behind this company because in my estimation, they are excited by the product and the future prospects. They can wear the stress.
The reason the human trials now starting, are pivotal is obvious; risk removal.
A company of the size of Edwards as fixated on the short term. They also fully understand the market they're in, as they're market leaders. There will be other competitors who want to seize the advantage. The great thing is this is a recession-proof area to be in. Money will be attracted once they understand what they have.
I don't know why you needed to say that about the Board. It's actionable and I wouldn't say it myself. Lucky for you they're too preoccupied to come back at you. I'd have it removed if I were you. Because even though you haven't named them as individuals you're naming them implicitly. If you make a claim and don't substantiate it, it's potentially damaging. It wont'b e able to be defended as fair comment.
I've made it clear that the dealings within companies especially around Board deliberations are opaque. I've seen some things in other companies that have gone on which, had they been illuminated, would have the company unwound. Do you want that kind of a result? I don't. I want the problem fixed. So I wouldn't be so sure it's due to actual deception if this has occurred, rather problem solving.
The reason I think you're wrong on outlook is your trust is gone. This isn't remedied easily. I'm like that with ADO. But that company has a cheer squad constantly talking it up. I don't think I'm doing that with AHZ. I'm cognisant of the risks and I'm giving an alternate view.
The market is fear driven right now and doesn't understand very much at all. LeMaitre passed but that's their loss. As they will discover. IMO.
(20min delay)