The S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AJXO) (ASX: XJO) is trading flat this morning on mixed leads from overseas markets, however, some healthcare and technology stocks are going nuts on improved outlooks and renewed investor enthusiasm over their growth potential.
Let's take a look at what may be behind the price action in some of today's movers and shakers.
Sirtex Medical Limited (ASX: SRX) shares are up 3% to $31.10 in morning trade as investors bid the stock higher on the back of recent guidance over its expectations for full year dose sales growth of 16.4% over the prior year. The company has also received multiple positive broker reports from the likes of UBS, Macquarie and Goldman Sachs, all of which value the shares substantially higher than today's price levels. The unanswered question for investors is how much in the way of extra costs and investments was incurred in order to deliver the sales growth. All will be revealed when the company reports its results in the middle of August.
Admedus Ltd (ASX: AHZ) is the general hospital and cardiovascular surgery equipment business that has suffered a shocking few years on the back of ballooning costs and slower-than-expected sales growth. The result has been the departure of the CEO and a radical cost-cutting plan that will see staff count reduced by 30% among other cost-saving measures. The group now hopes to lift sales of its CardioCel heart patch and turn profitable in financial year 2018. Whether or not Admedus can deliver on these ambitions is impossible to know, but just the revealing of the turnaround plan has seen the stock climb 10.5% to 42 cents this morning.
Ziptel Ltd (ASX: ZIP) is a technology business that offers a mobile phone app that enables international calls and messages for free between its users. The company is marketing the ZipT app heavily to consumers in sub-continental Asia where online and prepaid mobile phone services are far less developed. Today the stock rocketed 22% to 22 cents after the company revealed it has struck a deal with Korean mobile giant Samsung to feature its ZipT app on one of Samsung's mobile operating platforms named Tizen. Despite today's rise Ziptel shares are still down 77% over the past year as the company continues to lose money.
Resapp Health Ltd (ASX: RAP) shares are up 6.3% to 34 cents this morning after it announced a partnership with Massachusetts General Hospital to conduct a clinical study aimed at gathering evidence for a potential submission to the US FDA. ResApp develops smartphone medical applications for the diagnosis and management of respiratory diseases and has an evangelical-like following of retail shareholders hoping the company can deliver on its potential. The market cap is nearly $200 million – large for a company with no revenues and a net operating cash flow loss of $612,000 for the quarter ending 31 March 2016, although it reportedly has some exciting potential.
