Mr. Simpson: The stocks I cover are Bio-Rad , Cardiovascular Systems, Immucor, ICU Medical, IRIS International, Luminex, Volcano and ZOLL Medical.
TWST: How do you select which companies to cover?
Mr. Simpson: Because I am active in three areas - devices, diagnostics and life sciences - I have the luxury of picking companies where I think there is good value or good growth and an interesting story to tell. As a practical matter, given that I work with a company that focuses on smaller and mid-cap stock, we tend to like to cover relatively under-followed stocks. I'm not terribly interested in being the 18th analyst on a stock, I would rather be one of four or five or six analysts if that's possible.
TWST: Let's talk about life sciences. One of the trends you've talked about is the movement of life sciences companies into diagnostics. Are we still seeing that? If so, why?
Mr. Simpson: We certainly are. There are a few reasons for this strategy. First, it's a logical outgrowth of the technology for the life sciences companies. Second, it allows these companies to tap into a second customer base, and one that typically has a rather good funding behind it because when you develop a test, then you're talking about insurance, and Medicare and Medicaid. It's not quite as hazardous as grants can be in the research space.
Tickers included in this excerpt: ABT, ALXN, BIO, BLUD, CSII, GENZ, ICUI, IRIS, LIFE, LMNX, MIL, VOLC, ZOLL
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