Stryker on a Roll; Shares Staying Near All-Time High

Although somewhat off the all-time high achieved on April 3, Stryker Corp.'s common stock is remaining near those peak levels in anticipation of the company's first-quarter results, expected to be released on April 23. The company has been experiencing some positive momentum of late, and although the stock participated in the April 10 decline, Stryker's share price followed in lockstep with the overall NASDAQ's 3 percent drop and is still up about 6.7 percent year to date.Kalamazoo, MI-based Stryker has, in the just-ended quarter, completed several major acquisitions. The deals for Pivot Medical Inc. and Patient Safety Technologies Inc. both closed in March. Since no new buys have been announced since the company's February 18 acquisition of Berchtold Holding AG, expected to close in the second quarter, Stryker seems to be taking a breather from its buying spree to integrate the new units into the firm.These buys followed December's acquisition of Mako Surgical for $1.65 billion. That deal gained Mako's advanced robotic arm technology for the company, which should integrate nicely with a new or existing surgical navigation platform. And in an exclusive partnership arrangement announced just after the New Year, Stryker and NeuroLogica, a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics America Inc., Stryker will promote and sell NeuroLogica's BodyTom portable full body computed tomography (CT) scanner for neurosurgery, spine surgery, orthopaedic surgery, and trauma surgery in conjunction with the Stryker NAV3i(TM) Surgical Navigation Platform.Although many cases remain to be resolved, a significant number of settlements have been reached in the lawsuits involving the Rejuvenate hip replacement. And in other litigation news, a federal lawsuit over the allegation that the company overcharged the US Department of Veterans Affairs for medical equipment was settled. Stryker, along with codefendant Alliant Enterprises, agreed to make a collective payment of $1 million but didn't admit any wrongdoing.And analysts are upbeat about this picture. Yahoo finance reports that, as of the end of the day on April 10, 29 of 30 analysts give Stryker a 'hold' or better, with 10 'strong buy' recommendations. A poll of 22 brokers by Thomson/First Call gives Stryker a median target price of $84.50, so there is still some upside there, even at current levels.

Stephen Levy is a contributor to Qmed and MPMN.