Inari Medical (NARI) is a small medical outfit whose stock has gone through the wringer for nearly a year — but the story remains terrific and the stock is starting to act better, asserts Mike Cintolo, growth stock specialist and editor of Cabot Top Ten Trader.
Inari’s big draw revolves around procedures to remove blood clots, most of which occur in or near an artery — and thus, arterial devices used to remove them are fairly effective.
But when using those same devices for blood clots within veins, they don’t work very well, with poorer results and safety due to those clots having different characteristics (they tend to be harder, lead to more bleeding complications; thrombolytic drugs are often still required, too).
That, though, is the big opportunity for Inari: The company’s ClotTriever and FlowTriever collection of products are specifically designed for certain veinous blood clots conditions, including deep vein thrombosis (usually a clot in a vein in the lower leg, thigh or pelvis) or pulmonary embolisms (clot travels to the lungs).
Management believes its current products address a market north of 700,000 patients per year, and the proven results (near-bloodless procedures, patients avoid ICU stays, large clots removed in a single session, etc.) have made them a hit.
In Q4, Inari’s offerings treated around 7,700 patients in the quarter, up from 6,700, 5,900, 5,500 and 4,600 the prior four quarters, helping revenues pick up at a rapid rate even among increasingly tough year-over-year comparisons (up 71% in Q4). Impressively, gross margins are at 90% and profits have been just above breakeven in all but one recent quarter.
To be fair, the outlook for 2022 is a bit disappointing (revenues up 28% or so, partly due to a falloff in COVID- related procedures, which made up around 10% of the total), but we see that as conservative — and long-term, Inari believes just 4% of patients who would benefit from their devices are actually treated.
Big picture, it’s a great story. To be clear, the stock still has lots of resistance to chew through, but it’s showing noticeable strength — as the market struggles. If you’re game, we’re OK starting small here or (preferably) on dips.
