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[posting]23284738[/posting]der Anstieg hat auch seinen Grund...hier die aktuelle meldung: Device makers lifted on Medicare plan Cuts shallower than expected, giving aid to cardio group By Russ Britt, MarketWatch Last Update: 12:32 PM ET Aug 2, 2006 LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Medical device makers got a boost Wednesday as expected reductions in reimbursements from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services won't take as much of a bite as had been anticipated. Shares of companies such as Medtronic, St. Jude Medical and Boston Scientific traded up more than 2%. Fee schedules for such devices as stents -- expected to be cut by more than 30% in some cases -- were reduced by only a few percentage points. The news came as a welcome relief for many device makers' stocks, which have experienced volatility in recent weeks and months in anticipation of the ruling. Deutsche Bank analyst Tao Levy said in a note to clients that investors should see less volatility in the stocks. "As a result, and given that we are now more positive on the reimbursement outlook for the med-tech sector, we would expect a slight multiple expansion," Levy wrote. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, had proposed cuts of up to 34% at one time for drug-eluting stent reimbursement, but the agency's now pared that back to a little more than 2%. Implantable cardio-defibrillators had been penciled in for more than 22% in reductions, but now they will be cut between 2% and 3%. And instead of cutting payments for pacemakers, heart valves and joint replacements, CMS will instead raise reimbursement rates. Other stocks that gained on the news included Alphatec Holdings Inc. , Biomet Inc. , Stereotaxis , Stryker Corp. and Zimmer Holdings Inc. Analysts cautioned, though, that there may be roadblocks for these and other companies in the future. While CMS may not cut reimbursements as much as was anticipated, there could be other demands that the agency makes. "One of CMS's focuses has been increased pricing transparency on the hospital side, but now medical devices also seem to be on the agenda," UBS Investment Research's Kenneth Weakley wrote in a note to clients. And Citigroup's Matthew Dodds said today's rally may not last, as many expected that the proposed CMS cuts never would see the light of day. "From a fundamental standpoint, the aforementioned changes are not going to impact our market forecasts since we did not expect the initial cuts to hold and never lowered our estimates once they came out," Dodds said in a note to clients. "Our sense is that most of our competitors did not lower estimates either and hence are not apt to increase them today." Russ Britt is the Los Angeles bureau chief for MarketWatch. |
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| Autor (Datum des Eintrages): | spaceistheplace (02.08.06 20:05:08) |
| Beitrag: | 9 von 456 (ID:23288070) |
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