Shares of Medidata Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:MDSO) attained a new 52-week high of $55.61 on Sep 6, eventually closing a tad lower at $55.58. This represents strong year-to-date returns of about 12.8%. The S&P 500 has returned only about 7.0% during the same period.
New York-based Medidata Solutions is a leading global provider of hosted clinical development solutions. This Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock reported earnings of 13 cents in second-quarter 2016, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 9 cents.
Key Growth Catalysts
The provider of cloud-based solutions for life sciences witnessed the spike in share prices after it announced the strategic commercial partnership with SHYFT Analytics. Per the agreement, the duo will focus on increasing access to healthcare data analytics in clinical trials. The partnership will focus on providing life sciences companies with the means to gather real world evidence data from electronic medical records. It would also provide health claims information traditionally collected from clinical trials.
Going forward, we feel the growing adoption of products like Medidata Payment solutions, Medidata Rave, Medidata Balance and Medidata’s Risk-Based Monitoring (RBM) solutions will likely drive revenues. The professional services and subscription revenues are also enhancing the growth opportunities of the company.
Medidata Solutions’ focus on Medidata Payments, a cloud-based payment technology and an add-on to its leading Medidata Clinical Cloud was also a sensible move. Notably, Medidata Solutions has 17 out of the top 25 global Pharma companies as enterprise customers, demonstrating its accomplishment in the space. Medidata Payments is likely to fortify its position by streamlining trial processes to a considerable extent.
For full-year 2016, Medidata expects total revenue between $450.0 million and $474.0 million at constant currency. Professional services revenues are likely to be in the band of $68 million to $70 million. Non-GAAP operating income is expected in the range of $102.0–$109.0 million.
Stocks to Consider
Some better-ranked stocks in the broader medical sector are CryoLife Inc. (NYSE:CRY) , Masimo Corp. (NASDAQ:MASI) and Quidel Corp. (NASDAQ:QDEL) . All the three stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
Confidential from Zacks
Beyond this Analyst Blog, would you like to see Zacks' best recommendations that are not available to the public? Our Executive VP, Steve Reitmeister, knows when key trades are about to be triggered and which of our experts has the hottest hand. Click to see them now>>
MEDIDATA SOLUTN (MDSO): Free Stock Analysis Report
MASIMO CORP (MASI): Free Stock Analysis Report
CRYOLIFE INC (CRY): Free Stock Analysis Report
QUIDEL CORP (QDEL): Free Stock Analysis Report
Original post
Zacks Investment Research