Piper Jaffray's Top Picks For Medical Diagnostics

Piper Jaffray has published a research report on Medical Diagnostics, writing "Our positive 4Q10 STD channel checks suggest a combination of a deductible flush and easier H1N1 comps in December. Not surprisingly, there is concern about the effect of resetting deductibles on 1Q11 trends. We believe an increase in flu trends plus an incremental effect from the early health care reform changes could offset any negative impact and position the group for a sustainable improvement in visit trends ahead of any employment-based recovery. Accordingly, we continue to view stocks such as BDX, DGX, GPRO, HOLX, LH and QGEN as early beneficiaries of this trend." Companies related to this report include: Becton, Dickinson and Co. BDX $83.13 Quest Diagnostics, Inc. DGX $55.17 Gen-Probe, Inc. GPRO $59.68 Hologic, Inc. HOLX $18.88 Laboratory Corp. Of America LH $91.81 Qiagen NV QGEN $19.44