Edward Ridley-Day & team
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Edward Ridley-Day guides the Bank of America Merrill Lynch team of two up one notch to third place. The analysts, who work out of London, are bullish on Denmark’s Coloplast, a maker of continence, urology and wound-care devices. The company “represents one of the strongest structural growth investments in European health care, while also offering the potential of increasing cash returns to shareholders over the midterm,” says Ridley-Day. The team, which publishes research on 14 stocks, is also impressed with the company’s potential for further margin expansion from improvements in operational efficiency and material market share gains, especially in emerging economies and the U.S. The latter market is problematic for device manufacturers, however, owing to political gridlock. “We expect the reimbursement and pricing outlook to deteriorate in the U.S. for those markets exposed to government reimbursement — in particular, orthopedics, cardiovascular and capital equipment,” he says.
— Leslie Kramer