Varian (VAR) Installs ProBeam Compact In Thailand's Hospital

Varian Medical Systems, Inc. (NYSE:VAR) recently installed the cyclotron for its flagship ProBeam Compact single-room proton therapy system at the King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand. This will further boost Varian’s much coveted Proton Therapy platform.

Following the release, shares of the Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company inched up 0.9% to $138.10 at close, on Jun 9. The day before, the company announced a partnership with the International Atomic Energy Agency in a bid to enhance cancer treatment. (Read More: Varian to Boost Cancer Treatment With New Partnership)

ProBeam’s Expansion Graph

Varian's ProBeam is the world's first commercially available pencil beam scanning system, which is the most precise form of proton therapy available. Notably, the ProBeam Compact system is a single-room system equipped with a 360-degree gantry for intensity modulated proton therapy.

It is encouraging to note that, last month, this California-based MedTech giant exhibited its new ProBeam 360° proton therapy system in Manchester, United Kingdom, at the 58th Particle Therapy Co-Operative Group Conference. The suite includes the Eclipse PT Treatment Planning, RapidPlan PT Knowledge-based Planning, Velocity, 360 Oncology Care Management and Noona. Such medical innovations are expected to revolutionize the quality of cancer care offered by the company.

Additionally, in May, Varian announced the completion of the cyclotron installation for the Varian ProBeam Compact single-room proton therapy system at Biopolis, an international biomedical research hub in Singapore. (Read More: Varian Medical Installs ProBeam at Research Hub in Singapore)

How Does Varian Stand to Gain?

Per WHO, the total number of people undergoing cancer diagnosis worldwide is estimated to be 43.8 million. Asia accounts for nearly half the cases, being home to almost 60% of the global population.

MarketWatch opines that the global proton therapy market is poised for rapid growth, seeing a CAGR of more than 9% by 2022.

Hence, the latest developments have been well-timed ones for Varian.

Price Performance

In a year’s time, shares of Varian have rallied 18.4% compared with the industry’s 4.1% rise and the S&P 500 Index’s 5.8% gain.

Key Picks

Some better-ranked stocks from the broader medical space are Penumbra, Inc. (NYSE:PEN) , Haemonetics Corporation (NYSE:HAE) and Oxford Immunotec Global PLC (NASDAQ:OXFD) . While Penumbra and Haemonetics sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Oxford Immunotec carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Penumbra has a long-term earnings growth rate of 21.5%.

Haemonetics has a long-term earnings growth rate 13.5%.

Oxford Immunotec has a long-term earnings growth rate of 25%.

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