Thursday, November 09, 2006

Calls of Note Part 3

- Stifel is very positive on Abiomed (NASDAQ:ABMD) announced it will pursue a 510-K approval pathway for the Impella 2.5 instead of the longer (and expected) PMA approach.

If successful, this could allow this key product to be approved and commercially available in the U.S. market by the end of calendar 2007, 3 to 6 months earlier than firm's most recent estimate and as much as a year earlier than other estimates.

They continue to believe that the Impella 2.5 is a "home run" product for Abiomed in and of itself, but also the linchpin to making the company's entire "heart recovery" strategy provides a bridge between cardiologists and the rest of Abiomed's product line.

Last night's announcement should help remove one of the primary uncertainties in the ABMD story, namely the timing of Impella approval and availability in the U.S. market. As a result, the more favorable timeline should make the device more tangible and less theoretical to investors.

Stifel is upping their tgt on ABMD to $22 from $17 saying it remains one of the most exciting emerging medical device companies in their recent memory.

Notablecalls: Expect to see solid buy interest in ABMD today and in the coming days.

1 comment:

notablecalls said...

Looks like I was right for about 2 hrs. The stock tanked after that. I have no idea why.