Many investors might overlook MedTech healthcare stocks as the next goldmine of the stock market, but these companies often demonstrate unlimited potential. Unlike their pharma counterparts, for example, MedTech healthcare stocks are often nimbler and more innovative. This positions the sector to better adapt to changing market conditions and industry trends.
Furthermore, many top MedTech stocks leverage global trends similar to those that propelled stocks like Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) to rapid success. These innovations range from advanced AI and machine learning to automation, alternative transportation, and beyond. The distinct advantage of MedTech stocks over giants like Nvidia or Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) lies in their relative obscurity and common market dominance within specific niche segments – letting investors create a risk-diversified portfolio despite a healthcare concentration.
Intuitive Surgical (ISRG)
Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG) stands out among MedTech stocks by virtue of its scope and size, integrating innovative hard tech, robotics, and healthcare’s continual growth trajectory. As a key player in both the S&P 500 and NASDAQ-100 indices, it earns recognition as a stable and widespread provider of high-end, specialized medical equipment. It revolutionizes surgery to enhance provider performance and patient outcomes, standing out from competitors focusing on conventional medical hardware.
Intuitive Surgical has been aggressively expanding globally as the global healthcare industry recovers from the pandemic. Its latest quarterly report revealed a hefty 21% year-over-year increase in the global usage of its flagship robotic surgery system, the da Vinci platform, along with a 14% increase in new installations of the da Vinci system. This growth, alongside a 17% increase in sales and a rise in net income to $606 million from $325 million, cements Intuitive Surgical’s status as a premier retirement MedTech stock investment.
Watch Intuitive Surgical closely this year as it prepares to launch its next-generation da Vinci platform. CEO Gary Guthart has announced that this new model will feature “10,000 times the processing power” of current versions, enhancing data analysis, sensing technology, and digital and analytical functions. This development marks a significant leap in robotic surgery innovation, offering substantial growth opportunities for MedTech stock seekers.
ClearPoint Neuro (CLPT)
SClearPoint Neuro (NASDAQ:CLPT) shares declined slightly since January 1st, snapping the MedTech stock’s 2023 winning streak. Still, the small-cap MedTech stock has a bright future, driven mostly by its ClearPoint platform that enables surgical providers to navigate the brain and related systems more effectively for diagnosing and treating neurological disorders. 2023’s share price successes mostly stem from rapid-fire regulatory approvals across various market domains. Though few new developments dropped thus far in 2024, ClearPoint remains a clear top pick among MedTech stocks.
The FDA’s first and most significant approval was for clinical use of ClearPoint’s SmartFrame OR Stereotactic System. This system aids providers in accurately directing radiation therapy during stereotactic radiosurgery. This non-invasive surgical alternative targets cancerous areas with radiation to damage cancer cells and reduce tumors without the need for open surgery.
Importantly, this platform utilizes ClearPoint’s technology in the operating room, eliminating the previous requirement for an MRI facility. President and CEO Joe Burnett highlighted the significant advantages: “More than 95% of all stereotactic neuro-navigation procedures take place in the OR [and] this product is the first in ClearPoint’s history that does not require the use of MRI during the procedure, allowing us to access more hospitals, and to support an order of magnitude more patients than our legacy portfolio.”
Furthermore, ClearPoint received approval from European Union regulators to distribute its existing products in Europe late last year, broadening its global reach and significantly expanding its total addressable market.
TransMedics Group Inc (TMDX)
The only FDA-approved platform for lung, heart, and liver transports across MedTech stocks, TransMedics Group (NASDAQ:TMDX) is rapidly changing organ transport efficacy by ensuring the valuable tissue makes it from the donor to recipient in top condition. Beyond benefiting patients and shareholders, TransMedics Group is also going a long way in addressing systemic infrastructure problems within healthcare when it comes to organ transport and management.
In 2022, about 15,000 organ and tissue donors were eligible for transplant, but the actual organ utilization rate was only a fraction of the total available. For example, providers only managed to transplant 2,692 out of the 14,905 viable lungs available in 2022 – and the trend holds across organ types in many cases. The primary reason for the large gap between available and transplanted organs stems from the challenges in safe transport and tissue maintenance, which TransMedics Group is working to address holistically.
Recognizing the potential game-changing applications, TransMedics Group sales are skyrocketing. A 159% increase in the company’s fourth-quarter revenue to $81.2 million, marking eight consecutive quarters of revenue growth, demonstrates this. More importantly, the MedTech company contributed to a 12% national health and liver transplant increase – and its just getting started.
On the date of publication, Jeremy Flint held no positions in the securities mentioned. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
