Hedgeye Healthcare | What Is The Future Of Covid Testing?

03/17/21 10:16AM EDT

Below is an excerpt from a complimentary research note by our Healthcare Team of Tom TobinWilliam McMahon, and Justin Venneri. We are pleased to announce our new Sector Pro Product Health Care Pro. Click HERE to learn more.

Hedgeye Healthcare | What Is The Future Of Covid Testing?  - 3 17 2021 10 12 42 AM

We're looking to put more exposure on the short side, and as vaccinations accelerate we think there will be implications for COVID-19 testing. ~140 million doses have been distributed and ~40 million Americans are fully vaccinated (~110 million total jabs).

We have been tracking the target dates closely for months now, and think we're on the doorstep of the inflection point/reopening. 

We've highlighted $EXAS and others that have benefitted [massively] from COVID-19 testing, as well as labs like $NEO that simply helped out when needed and didn't make it a focus.

We've updated our claims data and are focusing time on Fulgent ($FLGT) this morning. The company benefitted from the tailwind - PCR testing - and its stock took off like a rocket ($17 -> $189 counts as a "moonshot," right?).

Estimate revisions corroborated that, but now we see the potential for volume to recede, and when we talk about COVID-comps, testing is the poster child.

We've been debating what the baseline of testing will be for weeks: Will companies require employees to be tested regularly? Will people want regular tests? Will the vaccine "passport" be good enough once everyone has one?.

The Google Trends and claims data look ominous here, and it's interesting that COVID-19 cases are crashing but testing nationally has held up.

There appears to be meaningful downside risk for $FLGT, a MicroQuad 3 stock at risk of slipping into the abyss (#MicroQuad4).

https://twitter.com/HedgeyeMed/status/1372183016555085845

Hedgeye Healthcare | What Is The Future Of Covid Testing?  - 3 17 2021 COVID testing Goggle Trend

Hedgeye Healthcare | What Is The Future Of Covid Testing?  - 3 17 2021   COVID Testing HE Chart

© 2024 Hedgeye Risk Management, LLC. The information contained herein is the property of Hedgeye, which reserves all rights thereto. Redistribution of any part of this information is prohibited without the express written consent of Hedgeye. Hedgeye is not responsible for any errors in or omissions to this information, or for any consequences that may result from the use of this information.