Thoughts after conference call on Friday:
There are four things that stuck out in my mind after listening to the CC.
1) Missing the earnings projection for last quarter is not a huge deal to the company. The problems that are associated with rolling out a new product are seem endless these days and the company hit on many of these reasons: Validation Committees that approve use in hospitals/surgery centers instead of surgeons, complicated processes to get cleared in overseas markets and stabilizing local and international distribution channels, to name a few. MiMedx seems to understand these obstacles and appears to be addressing them appropriately.
2) With the miss on revenues, the company will need to raise more capital. Young companies often have financing hurdles. The company doesn't seem to think the amount is all that significant and will not have a problem raising the cash needed until the breakeven is achieved. Also, the drive to get listed on a larger exchange is certainly a focus for MiMedx and will help with gaining exposure and future funding as well as increasing shareholder value.
3) Product acceptance appears to be high both among distributors and surgeons. This is crucial to keep both the sales force motivated and to have surgeons willing to try a new product. With the challenges listed above, products can flounder and be forgotten by both the sales force and surgeons quite easily when products cannot be used. As long as the products are approved for use (both by FDA for the collagen line and in hospitals/surgery centers for all products) in the near future, this should not be a long-term concern.
4) The company sees an ever-expanding list of applications for their currently and future approved products. This is the most exciting and important item in my view. Cost effective, safe products are needed now more than ever and MiMedx has a developing product line that should be strong and diverse among several sectors of the industry. It sounds like many of these applications can be derived from current production technology and should not be difficult to develop. It will, however, be interesting to see how they decide to promote over such a wide spectrum as the industry currently is subdivided by specialties within the sales teams. How they partner with large companies and use distributor networks will be watched closely. There is more than one way to market these products and from the corporate team they have assembled, it appears they will do whatever it takes to use the most effective channels.
Of course, all of the above is just my opinion and anyone reading this must do their own DD and make informed investment decisions on their own.
Here's to solid execution down the road.
