Vericel Corp. (VCEL)

[hurley cruppers]

VCEL - BTIG Reiterates Bullish Stance on Vericel Corp (VCEL) Following Investor Meetings with Management

https://www.smarteranalyst.com/2017/09/29/btig-reiterates-bullish-stance-vericel-corp-vcel-following-investor-meetings-management/

Highlights from investor meetings with Vericel management.

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Jason Cohen, Editor-September 29, 2017, 3:04 PM EDT


Analyst Ryan Zimmerman of equity research firm BTIG has recently hosted investor meetings with management of Vericel Corp (NASDAQ:VCEL) in San Francisco. CEO Nick Colangelo and CFO Gerard Michel spoke on a variety of topics related to Vericel’s business. Overall, Zimmerman sounds more enthusiastic about his Buy rating following the meeting. (To watch Zimmerman’s track record, click here)

In a research note to clients Zimmerman wrote, “We came away from meetings with additional color on the market opportunity, the company’s commercialization efforts, and Vericel’s regulatory focus for other assets beyond MACI (i.e. Ixmyelocel-T). Investor interest was encouraging and while shares have moved up since the last quarterly earnings call, we continue to see upside as VCEL is growing revenue faster than peers but remains at a discount on a revenue basis.”

“Mgmt. sees the opportunity for MACI among patients as ~10k-15k patients today and these estimates remain conservative, limited for younger patients with favorable commercial insurance. We believe the market may be larger. That said, from a MD standpoint, there were a core group of ~350 users of Carticel previously (although up to 1,000 may send in biopsies), mgmt. sees the potential MD opportunity as ~3,000 who could potentially add MACI to their practice,” the analyst added.

Furthermore, “Investors were interested to hear about Ixmyelocel-T, as a potential catalyst for shares may be near-term. Mgmt. has remained constrained on discussion of the non-core asset so as not to get ahead of themselves but Vericel expects to meet with the FDA before the end of the 3rd quarter.

Shares of Vericel are rising nearly 8% to $6.07 as of 2:59PM EDT.

VCEL