Vericel Corp. (VCEL)

[realfast95]

article on seeking alpha today

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4214190-vericel-corporation-holds-longer-term-promise

Vericel Corporation Holds Longer-Term Promise
Oct. 25, 2018 8:08 AM ET

Summary

The promise is already there for patients, but shareholders will gain as well, in our view.

Revenues will grow 25-30% this year and margins are improving and the company has plenty of cash, it's even looking for acquisitions.

The shares have sold off with the general market, buying a few on a downturn will pay off longer-term.

Their basic technology is likely to have wider applicability although developing these is a slow process.

Vericel (VCEL) is an interesting company specializing in so called autologous cell therapies, a therapy where manufactured cells from a patients tissue are placed back into a patient via either the infusion, injection or transplantation for damaged tissues and organ rejuvenation.

Bloomberg has a nice explanation of the company and its products, as does SA contributor BioSci Capital Partners.

They have two FDA approved products:

MACI; The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved MACI (autologous cultured chondrocytes on porcine collagen membrane) for the repair of symptomatic, full-thickness cartilage defects of the knee in adult patients. is the first FDA-approved product that applies the process of tissue engineering to grow cells on scaffolds using healthy cartilage tissue from the patient’s own knee. Knee problems are common and occur in people of all ages.
Epicel; is a type of graft made from a patient's own skin. It is also called "Cultured Epidermal Autograft" or "CEA." These grafts provide a permanent skin replacement for patients with deep dermal or full thickness burns. Epicel is the only treatment of this type approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in the United States.

Management claims that MACI speeds up recovery (Q2CC):

but in general, our physicians are finding that the MACI rehab procedure is three months quicker than the Carticel. So where patients used to get to say running at nine months they're now running at six months. They're getting to back to sport usually with Carticel that was nine months plus. For MACI now that's more like six months plus definitely by nine months.

Chart VCEL Revenue (TTM) data by YCharts

Chart VCEL Gross Profit Margin (Quarterly) data by YCharts

Chart VCEL Cash from Operations (TTM) data by YCharts

Chart VCEL Stock Based Compensation (TTM) data by YCharts

Chart VCEL EV to Revenues (TTM) data by YCharts