Lantheus (LNTH) Scores A Strong Buy Right Now: Here's How

Based in North Billerica, MA, Lantheus Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LNTH) is a provider ofdiagnostic medical imaging agents and products for diagnosis of cardiovascular and other diseases. It has rallied 28.2% over the last three months, ahead of the S&P 500’s 4.3% gain and also better than the Zacks categorized Medical - Products sub-industry's gain of 9.7%.The stock has a market cap of $570.2 million.

With solid growth prospects, this Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stock is an attractive pick at present.

The company’s estimate revision trend for the current year has also been positive. In the past 60 days, two analysts moved north while there was no movement in the opposite direction. The magnitude of estimate revision increased around 14.8% to 93 cents per share over the same time frame. The company reported a stellar four-quarter positive average earnings surprise of 118.3%, with an earnings surprise of 47.4% in the last reported first quarter of 2017.

Let’s find out whether the recent positive trend is a sustainable one.

After delivering a solid first-quarter 2017 performance, Lantheus has again made the market optimistic with the announcement of the companyjoining the S&P SmallCap 600 GICS Health Care Supplies Sub-Industry Index. Lantheus has replaced Tidewater Inc. in the S&P SmallCap 600 Index which further highlights the steadily growing business of the company.

Also, Lantheus Medical Imaging, a subsidiary of Lantheus Holdings, has inked an agreement with GE Healthcare to support the universal development and commercialization of its flurpiridaz F-18 investigational PET radiopharmaceutical. The company has also announced a new expanded contract with GE Healthcare that runs through 2020. Lantheus will supply TechneLite Xenon-133 and Gallium-67 at the earlier price promised under this agreement.

Notably, in the last reported quarter, revenues were strong on the back of approximately 20% growth in worldwide sales of DEFINITY and approximately 8% growth in worldwide sales of TechneLite. The raised revenue guidance for the full year indicates possibilities of continuation of this bullish trend.

For full-year 2017, the worldwide revenue guidance has been raised to $313–$318 million from $312–$317 million. Worldwide revenues for the second quarter of 2017 are projected between $79 million and $82 million.

Other Key Picks

Other top-ranked medical stocks are Align Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALGN) , Inogen, Inc. (NASDAQ:INGN) and Accelerate Diagnostics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXDX) . Notably, Align Technology and Inogen sport a Zacks Rank #1, while Accelerate Diagnostics carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Align Technology has an expected long-term adjusted earnings growth of almost 24.1%. The stock has added roughly 32.8% over the last three months.

Inogen has a long-term expected earnings growth rate of 17.5%. The stock has gained around 27.7% over the last three months.

Accelerate Diagnostics has an expected long-term adjusted earnings growth of 30%. The stock has gained roughly 30.1% over the last three months.

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