Maksim Labkouski/iStock via Getty Images
- Abbott (NYSE:ABT), Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX) and Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) are the most likely potential buyers of ShockWave Medical (NASDAQ:SWAV) after a report late Friday that the company has received takeover interest, according to Wells Fargo.
- Abiomed (NASDAQ:ABMD) could also be a potential partnership or merger partner for ShockWave (SWAV) as SWAV already has a partnership with ABMD to train and educate doctors and ABMD owns ~5% of SWAV, Wells Fargo analyst Larry Biegelsen wrote in a note yesterday. SWAV remains overweight at Wells Fargo, PT $235.
- With ShockWave's market cap at about $6B, the company could see $8B-$9B in a transaction based on premiums of about 30% in the medtech space, according to Biegelsen.
- "SWAV is an attractive Medtech name with multiple potential sources of upside," Biegelsen wrote. "We upgraded SWAV to Overweight from Equal Weight in December 2021 because we believe the above-the-knee ("ATK") opportunity is under-appreciated by investors."
- Bloomberg also reported over the weekend that Penumbra (NYSE:PEN) is said to be exploring a deal with Shockwave (SWAV), though Penumbra told Bloomberg in a statement that the company wasn't in discussions with SWAV.
- Piper Sandler analyst Adam Maeder wrote that while he didn't see a PEN-SWAV deal as "far fetched," he sees other companies as more likely buyers.
- "While we think a potential PEN-SWAV combination makes some sense on paper, we still view the larger strategics and those medtech companies with more pronounced interventional cardiology call-points as being more likely acquirers of SWAV," Maeder, who has an overweight rating and $272 price target on SWAV wrote in a note.
- Shockwave (SWAV) shares rose 5.4% in trading this morning following a 15% jump in the shares in after hours trading on Friday after the takeover report.
- The Shockwave deal speculation comes as JPMorgan's annual Healthcare conference started today, which often has deal announcements associated with the event. Penumbra is scheduled to present at the conference on Tuesday.