AngioDynamics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ANGO)
Queensbury, New York
http://www.angiodynamics.com/

52-week low / high: $15.68 / $27.08
Shares Outstanding:  24.02 million
Market Capitalization:  $474.91 million

Everyone from soccer moms wanting varicose veins erased to aging patients needing their clogged arteries cleared has found solutions from AngioDynamics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ANGO). The 19-year-old company makes a wide variety of medical devices that perform cosmetic procedures and others that play a life-saving role. The 550-employee company makes a laser and drug treatment for varicose veins and also makes devices that help deliver chemotherapy drugs.

Aging baby boomers are helping fuel demand for AngioDynamics’ cosmetic procedure services. In fiscal year 2007, ended June 2, 2007, the company’s revenue grew 43% to $112.2 million, from $78.5 million in fiscal 2006. The firm’s gross margin also rose to 59% during fiscal 2007, from 58% in 2006. Starting in the first quarter, the company changed its fiscal quarters to end on the last day of the calendar month.

“The demand for our products is increasing. Certainly the baby boomer generation aging and reaching a time in their lives where they’re going to need medical attention increases demand for our products,” CEO Eamomm Hobbs said in an October Forbes interview. “We’re the world leader in needle-based radio frequency ablation of cancerous tumors.”

Hobbs said the company will continue to grow through acquisitions and a “strong, innovative pipeline of products.”

In the recent fiscal first quarter, ended August 31, AngioDynamics sales soared to $37.5 million, slightly below analyst estimates of $37.8 million, but up 85% from $20.3 million a year earlier. The company’s quarterly profit rose to $2.4 million, or $0.10 per share, which was in line with Wall Street projections and up 25% from $1.9 million, or $0.12 per share, during the year-ago period. Excluding litigation and acquisition-related charges, the company has 24 consecutive quarters of profitability.

The company affirmed its fiscal 2008 revenue guidance of $170 million to $175 million. The company expects GAAP operating income in the range of $20 million to $22 million and GAAP earnings per share between $0.56 and $0.60. Wall Street analysts project $0.58 per share.

The firm has been in the headlines—in 2006, BusinessWeek magazine named it one of the top 100 hot growth companies and Forbes called it the eleventh best small company in America—but has also been the subject of negative news. In early November, the company was forced to pay the U.S. government $3,000 to settle allegations that it violated trade restrictions with Iran. Rita Medical Systems Inc., which makes radiation equipment for treating cancer patients, was accused of selling its products in Iran. AngioDynamics acquired Rita Medical Systems for $220 million in January.

Wall Street analysts are positive about the firm’s prospects. In April, Sun Trust Robinson Humphrey upgraded its rating on ANGO to “buy” from “neutral.” Analysts have a consensus price target of $24.14.

Note: AngioDynamics, Inc. (ANGO) is on the “Watch List” of Growth Report, a subscription investment newsletter from Business Financial Publishing, which also publishes SmallCapInvestor.com. As a Watch List company AngioDynamics displays many characteristics found in successful stock winners, and is being closely monitored for possible inclusion in the Growth Report portfolio at a later date.