What's in Store for These 3 MedTech Stocks in Q2 Earnings?

Medical sector players that have reported second-quarter results so far witnessed strong top and bottom-line improvements on both sequential as well as year-over-year basis, driven by higher demand for medical products and services and favorable pricing strategies. These factors largely offset the burden of increased costs and interest expenses stemming from worldwide geopolitical issues and healthcare labor shortages.

Going by the latest Earnings Preview report, within the Medical sector, 49.2% of the companies, constituting 61% of the sector's market capitalization, reported earnings till Jul 31. Of these, 82.8% beat on earnings, while 79.2% beat on revenues. The bottom line rose 31% year over year on 5.8% higher revenues.

Overall, second-quarter earnings of the Medical sector are expected to improve 15.7% on 8.1% growth in revenues. This compares with the first-quarter earnings decline of 24% on revenue growth of 6.8%.

Some major industry players like Baxter International BAX, Henry Schein HSIC and IDEXX Laboratories IDXX are set to report their quarterly results tomorrow.

Factors Driving MedTechs This Earnings Season

Replicating the broader Medical sector's trend, MedTech or the Zacks-defined Medical Products companies' collective business growth in the second quarter is likely to have stabilized. The industry has been experiencing rapid adoption of generative Artificial Intelligence (genAI) and digital therapies, which market observers predict will take the healthcare business by storm.

Macro trends that have set the stage for even more innovation and investment in this space are an aging population, growing healthcare awareness and increasing access to better health options. Favorable impacts from these are expected to be seen in the second-quarter results.

However, the industry has been grappling with issues in the form of staffing shortages and a significant surge in medical supply expenses. In addition, medical procedure rates and demand for the company's products continue to fluctuate as the medical system rebalances its infrastructure and resources in a post-COVID-19 market. These have been putting significant pressure on the margins of medical device companies. Further, the worsening geopolitical environment leading to supply chain bottlenecks has resulted in high freight and raw material costs.

Also, diagnostic testing companies have been witnessing a severe year-over-year decline in testing demand against strong demand in the year-ago period for COVID-19 testing products.

MedTech Stocks to Watch

Baxter: Sustained demand and the positive impact of pricing are likely to have aided second-quarter sales of the Medical Products and Therapies segment. Infusion Therapies and Technologies sales are likely to have benefited from the IV Solutions portfolio in the international market, as well as the solid performance of the infusion system portfolio. Moreover, recent FDA approvals for Novum IQ volume infusion pump and Dose IQ Safety Software are likely to have accelerated growth for the segment.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Baxter's second-quarter 2024 revenues is pegged at $3.74 billion, indicating an improvement of 1% from the prior-year quarter's reported figure. However, the consensus mark for earnings is pinned at 66 cents per share, implying a 20% year-over-year improvement.

During the quarter, the company's shares declined 23.2% compared with the industry's 3.3% decline.

Per our proven model, a stock with the combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) has a good chance of beating on earnings. However, this is not the case here, as you can see below.

BAX has an Earnings ESP of 0.00% and a Zacks Rank of 4 (Sell) at present.

Baxter International Inc. Price and EPS Surprise

Baxter International Inc. price-eps-surprise | Baxter International Inc. Quote

Henry Schein: The company is expected to sustain the strong recovery momentum from last year's cybersecurity incident, which mainly affected the dental and medical distribution businesses in North America and Europe. There may have been a steady improvement in dental merchandise sales, including in most international markets, aiding overall revenues in the second quarter of 2024. Dental equipment sales are also likely to have increased in North America. In addition, Henry Schein's THRIVE Signature program may have contributed to overall sales growth, driven by an increase in memberships.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for HSIC's second-quarter 2024 revenues is pegged at $3.28 billion. This suggests an increase of 5.9% from the year-ago reported figure. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its second-quarter 2024 EPS stands at $1.27, which indicates a year-over-year fall of 3.1%.

During the second quarter, the stock plunged 13.7% compared with the industry's 5.8% decline.

HSIC has an Earnings ESP of +1.20% and a Zacks Rank #4 at present.

Henry Schein, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise

Henry Schein, Inc. price-eps-surprise | Henry Schein, Inc. Quote

IDEXX: In the second quarter, IDXX's Companion Animal Group ("CAG") Diagnostics recurring revenues are expected to have maintained the trend of robust organic gains, contributing significantly to the company's overall revenue growth. The growth is likely to have been supported by new business gains, sustained high customer retention rates and net price realization in the United States. The company's international performance is also likely to have been fueled by strong execution, demonstrated through continued growth in premium instrument placements.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues is pegged at $1 billion, which suggests an increase of 6.2% from the year-ago reported figure. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is pegged at $2.87 per share, which implies a 7.5% rise from the year-ago reported figure.

In the second quarter, shares of the company lost 8.5% compared with the industry's 1.6% drop.

IDXX has an Earnings ESP of -0.76% and a Zacks Rank #4 at present.