Does anyone here invest in diabetes companies.
It looks like dexcom is doing very well as is Tandem.
Medtronic is up over the long haul , but recent earnings report dropped it a little.
I thinking I should invest in the companies that have such a big presence in my life.
I sold off my Lilly stock even though I depend on their insulin, but the crazy price fixing that they do with novo is too much for me to stomach, and I feel like I’m part of the problem.
I don’t see my investments will make that much of a difference, but I’m sort of waking up to investing in a different way.
Anyone on here invest in diabetes? I would like to hear how you do.
We play a little bit with investments, but we’re not making any major money moves. Mostly we like to buy a little bit of new companies, when they’re undervalued, and hope they grow into something worthwhile. When you can get in for under $5 a share, there’s little regret.
I got vetoed on Tandem and Dexcom because they were already valued too high for our splosh fund, but wish I had gotten in on them earlier. I think they’re safe investments, though. Neither one is going anywhere, and there’s a substantial patient base yet to be acquired. There’s big competition, too, though, so I don’t know how much the value can rise.
Granted I’m a little biased and this is pure speculation on my part, but Medtronic scares me as an investment opportunity. They’re still the kingpin with cardiac devices, but they’re losing their patient base in the diabetes division. Tandem’s growing 40% quarter over quarter, the majority of which are Medtronic conversions. Corporations that big don’t maintain product divisions that aren’t profitable. I fully expect that Medtronic will follow in Johnson & Johnson’s (Animas) shoes and shut down the insulin pump division. I really think the nail in the coffin will be when some of the dual hormone and/or fully closed loop pumps come to market. I think Medtronic is too far behind to maintain enough patient base amongst that competition. If/when that happens, their value will plummet, at least for a spell. They’ll probably recovery at some time. If I were going to buy Medtronic, that’s what I’d be waiting for… to pounce while the timid are jumping ship.
I’m considering Nemaura Medical. (NMRD) I think it was @MM1 who brought them to my attention yesterday. I think that one is ripe for picking because they’ve already filed their sugarBEAT device with the FDA, back in 2019, and they’re due a breakout. They just got stuck behind Covid. And I’m pretty sure they’re playing in the “little dog” (as my own FDA liaisons called it when I was still in the medical device industry) pay scale, hence why they’re still waiting while larger companies are making more progress moving devices through the approval process. I think they’ll attract a lot of investor attention when the first non-invasive CGM gets clearance. I’m not highly impressed with the device itself, it’s really inaccurate (24% MARD) in lower BG ranges, and less than Dexcom in target ranges… but I think there’s a market for it and that it’s worth the $6/share. My husband is a little less enthusiastic when I show yet another diabetes prospect, so we’re waiting on feedback from a friend of his whose given good advice in the past.
I have been in and out of several. Decent gains from dexcom over past 3 years, and past holdings of tandem, pod, lilly, medtronics, Senseonic, Nmrd, and mnkd (afrezza) for short in and out.
Long time holder of Abbott, AbbVie.
I have bought and hold Tandem, Dexcom, Abott, Abbvie, Pfizer and Roche. Though some of those are because of cross overs into Rheumatology. I do not hold insulin stocks, or Medtronic because it is so big diabetes is a small part and really does not factor a lot into the price of the stock.
I had Dexcom for a while but sold it, obviously too soon as it has continued to climb. The way the stock market has soared it made me nervous to hang on too long.
Since I retired I periodically will sell some stocks to take some money off the table. Deciding if/when to sell a stock is actually more tricky than when to buy. Dividend paying stocks are a little easier to hold for the long term, because they pay you to hang on. Abbott pays a small dividend and has done well lately.
You got me curious with SugarBeat. It took quite a bit of searching to learn a bit how the sensor patch works without inserting into the interstitial layer.
I still don’t have full understanding, but the patch draws glucose molecules up through the epidermis where it is measured through a micro electrical current.
Considering the lag time with a sensor actually inserted in the interstitial layer, I have concerns that that will increase. Also, non invasive wrist type CGMs that used electrical means to measure glucose levels in perspiration had long lag times and caused irritation in testers.
This technology is something to keep an eye on as the spectrographic technology Apple and Samsung are working on independently.
If I had extra $$s I would invest in SugarBeats company, Nemaura Medical, to further their research efforts. If it worked and the stock rose, that would be a plus. But, alas, I am retired with limited funds and a facing a big dental bill for my wife.
I got Dexcom a few years ago and it’s done very well – up about 5 times. Of course, I was cautious and didn’t buy that many shares so not such a big gain in money for me.
At around the same time I bought J&J because I had and liked my Animas pump. J&J exited the diabetes biz not long after. I was too passive to sell the stock and it’s worked out for me. Despite some bad J&J news (baby powder, the performance of their vaccine vs the RNA ones), the stock has done fine. Of course, a lot of stocks have done fine over the last several years…
I thought about buying Tandem when I switched to their pump, but regrettably chickened out. It’s up a lot since then.
Totally agree with that.
I feel like Dexcom has an edge in CGM. Their sensors have just been better than the competition. But, I wonder if that edge will endure…or if they’ll be bought out by a bigger company…
Anyway, I feel most comfortable buying stocks where the product is something I use and have had an excellent experience with.
I’ve looked at Sernova, a speculative buy at best so wouldn’t sink a ton into it, but if it pans out, a double win for me!!
They are working on an islet cell pouch that is implantable (can you say “cure”?) but still fairly early stage.
Shares are around $1.20 last I checked.
The first totally encapsulated study failed.
The second that allows interaction with our blood supply is running now. This requires immune suppression.
They need to figure out that issue before it’s going to be usable.
Bought and have been holding Dexcom for a while although really the price to earnings is a bit out of where I usually go. Like an order of magnitude out!!
How much can they still grow?
I’ve looked at Tandem as well.
I managed a pretty big portfolio for a number of years (my retirement fund) but it got too big (and I got too busy) and I kind of lost my nerve so I handed the majority over to a professional investor about three years back.
Keeping some back out of interest to invest where I think things are going. With variable success. Dexcom is one of my successes. Good gains on paper but not real until sold of course.
