Specialist
Former VP at Abbott Laboratories Inc
Agenda
- Trends and themes in the medical device industry, focusing on Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT)
- Supply chain inefficiencies from coronavirus and impact on manufacturing operations
- Abbott's GPO (global purchasing organisation) relationships and importance to commercial performance
- Competitive landscape – Abbott vs Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX), Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE: EW) and Medtronic (NYSE: MDT)
- Q1 2022 outlook, growth expectations and potential M&A
Questions
1.
What are some of the major trends and developments you’ve been following in the medical device sector over the past 12 months or so pertaining to Abbott Laboratories?
2.
What has been the coronavirus’ impact on Abbott’s core business? How do you reconcile the net impact of COVID-19 testing tailwinds with any hits to elective procedures or other pandemic headwinds?
3.
How are global supply-chain disruptions impacting manufacturing operations? Are there increased costs from the inefficiencies, and what’s the trickle-down effect on Abbott over the near term?
4.
What do you think of Abbott’s presentation at the annual JP Morgan healthcare conference in San Francisco in early January? Do you have any major takeaways from the company’s showcase or management commentary worth highlighting?
5.
Could you discuss Abbott’s LAAC [left atrial appendage closure] occlude, the Amulet, and its relative positioning in the US market? How much incremental share do you think it could potentially gain on Boston Scientific’s Watchman over the next couple of years?
6.
You mentioned Abbott has accumulated somewhat of a war chest of capital from COVID-19 testing, among other tailwinds. How do you anticipate its capital deployment strategy to develop in 2022? Will there be an emphasis on share buybacks, research and development, strategic M&A, etc? What are the most likely avenues for capital spend?
7.
You mentioned Abbott has been acquisitively shy since buying St Jude Medical in January 2017. Do you think it could be mulling another large acquisition? What might be some likely synergistic or strategic fits?
8.
What is your assessment of Abbott’s electrophysiology portfolio, including the Advisor HD Grid Mapping Catheter and the TactiCath Contact Force Ablation Catheter? Which products are you most bullish on for continued revenue growth and market penetration?
9.
Could you discuss how the relationships between GPOs [group purchasing organisations] and manufacturers such as Abbott are shifting over time? Are these new arrangements less important to the commercial process than they used to be? Why or why not?
10.
How are you thinking of the increased risk-sharing agreements as it relates to the GPOs?
11.
Could you discuss the opportunity in integrating patient-monitoring capabilities in some of Abbott’s core products and implants? The company mentioned a focus on this initiative at the Consumer Electronics Show 2022. What is the innovative potential here and how does this help its products from a clinician-receptiveness standpoint?
12.
How do you assess the market opportunity for Abbott in China? How much of this is made up of cardiac remote-monitoring vs other business lines?
13.
How is Abbott performing compared to Johnson & Johnson in electrophysiology? Do you think it hasn’t invested enough in this segment? How behind is it against Boston Scientific and Medtronic in pulsed-field ablation?
14.
How does Abbott compete in the cardiac monitoring business, particularly in pacemakers and implantable cardioverter defibrillators? Do you think its lagging behind Boston Scientific and Medtronic in terms of relative device innovation?
15.
We discussed the LAAC [left atrial appendage closure] landscape earlier. Could you expand on the market opportunity there is in LAAC? What domestic TAM do think is realistic and what does that mean for Abbott given its 40-45% penetration potential you mentioned earlier?
16.
How do you expect the competitive landscape for TAVR [transcatheter aortic valve replacement] to progress over the next several years? Do you expect Edwards to remain the dominant player? How much share could Abbott and Boston Scientific take from Edwards and Medtronic over the next 5-7 years and why?
17.
How are you considering increasing competition in structural heart given some of the new entrants? How might this impact ASPs? To what extent could there be downward pricing pressure over the near term and could you quantify any pricing reductions?
18.
What are your thoughts on Abbott’s competitiveness against Medtronic in left ventricular assist devices? How do its relative product capabilities, pricing and market share differ? What are some key differences to note between those two players?
19.
As Abbott becomes increasingly exposed to wearables and builds out patient-monitoring capabilities, how are you considering the evolving competitive dynamics with big tech offerings such as Google’s Fitbit and the Apple Watch? How much competitive overlap could there be over the next few years, and how do you assess the company’s ability to compete against tech behemoths?
20.
What do you think of Abbott’s management team and CEO Robert Ford? How do you assess its execution prospects to fuel further revenue growth and performance?
21.
What is your 12-18-month outlook for Abbott Laboratories? What are the most important factors to monitor over that time frame?
