Needham & Company on Medical Technology: Previewing ASTRO 2011

Needham & Company Previews ASTRO 2011, the largest annual conference for radiation therapy companies. Miami Beach is hosting the event between Oct. 2-6

Needham analyst, Dalton Chandler, said, "This is typically the conference at which major new product launches are announced, but with Varian's (NYSE: VAR) (Buy/Rated) launch of the TrueBeam in April 2010, they may not have a major product for this year. Accuray (Nasdaq: ARAY) (Not/Rated) management hinted on their recent earnings call that they may have something, but we aren’t speculating on what it might be."

"ARAY will hold an analyst meeting 10/3 starting at 7AM, with EKTA (N/R) holding one the same day at 1PM. VAR’s meeting will be at 7AM on 10/4. These stocks have sold off sharply this year, with VAR 28% below its 52-week high and ARAY off 64% following its acquisition of money-losing Tomotherapy. We think the key driver of the sell-off has been concern about the macro economy and its implications for the financial health of hospitals and the availability of credit. If there are no major product launches to discuss, we would expect the current state of the end market to be a major topic of discussion and concern."

"As noted above, VAR’s most recent major product launch was the TrueBeam in April 2010. We think this has had a major impact on the market and that VAR is now taking share again."

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