Wright Medical Group (WMGI) May See Stock Rise 10% or 20% with Augment Product Line

March 19, 2013

Wright Medical Group (WMGI)‘s acquisition of BioMimetic and its Augment program could drive the company’s stock up 10% or 20% if the Augment product line is approved by the FDA, positioning Wright Medical as a game changer in the medical device space, says Matt Miksic, Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at Piper Jaffray & Co.

“Some are what I would call of game changers, things that may or may not be approved, maybe a little bit more biotech in profile or more binary in outcome, but certainly if they come through this year, they would drive some significant performance in the names involved,” Miksic said. “Another biologic could presumably be a huge home run for [Wright Medical Group].”

Miksic says that Wright Medical has the opportunity to have the second recombinant biologic product approved for use in musculoskeletal surgery after Medtronic‘s $1 billion INFUSE product, yet there is still a possibility that WMGI will not get FDA approval of Augment.

“That will either send the stock up substantially, maybe 10% to 20%, or it will fizzle a little bit, because they’ve made this acquisition and are now holding that regulatory risk,” Miksic said.