10 of the best performing medical device stocks of 2018

Abiomed: +73%

Impella CP [Image from Abiomed]

Abiomed (Nasdaq:ABMD) saw its stock soar to $325.04 per share by the end of the year after strong financial results. Its profits more than doubled year-over-year to about $140 million for the six months ended Sept. 30, following massive growth in profits for its full fiscal year 2018.

The company is the maker of Impella heart pumps — a support system of percutaneous, catheter-based devices that offer hemodynamic support to people’s hearts. It spent more than $75 million on R&D during its most recent fiscal year, representing nearly 13% of its revenue.

Earlier this year, Abiomed announced approval of its Impella heart pump in India. It also issued plans to open a new $17 million innovation center near its Danvers, Mass. headquarters.

Wall Street isn’t entirely impressed with the company, though: Shares fell approximately 13.1% in mid-November 2018 despite the company announcing positive results from a pilot trial of its Impella CP heart pump that will clear the way for a pivotal trial that could nearly double the device’s total addressable market. Investors had higher hopes than the small pilot trial could provide, coupled with a broader selloff in medtech and disappointment that the pivotal trial will be delayed until the second half of 2019, Leerinck analyst Danielle Antalffy wrote in a letter to investors. She remains bullish on the company.

Abiomed invested $15 million in Shockwave Medical in December last year. The investment will help fund a collaboration between the two companies on a training and education program in the U.S. and Germany.