Baron Funds Comments on Teleflex Inc.
- By Holly LaFon
We initiated a position in Teleflex, Inc. (TFX), a medical device company that over the past five years has been transformed, under CEO Benson Smith's leadership, from a diversified industrial company into a pure-play medical device company through a series of divestitures and acquisitions. Today, the company sells products used by hospitals and health care providers for critical care applications and surgical procedures. The company's products include, among others, catheters that provide vascular access for delivery of intravenous medications, laryngeal masks for delivery of anesthesia, and surgical instruments used for minimally invasive surgery. The company's products are used in procedures for treatment of acute or life-threatening illnesses and are therefore less susceptible to being cut during an economic downturn.
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We think the company has a solid base business that should be able to grow in the mid-single digits on an organic basis driven by volume growth, new product introductions, and to a lesser extent pricing. In addition, we think the company has the potential to accelerate its organic growth through several interesting new product opportunities, including, among others, the Percuvance Surgical System, a surgical instrument for use in minimally invasive procedures. Percuvance requires a smaller incision site than traditional laparoscopic surgery, while maintaining the equivalent rigidity and strength of laparoscopic instruments. Percuvance has the potential to reduce patient trauma and minimize scarring. The company plans to pursue a full market release of the product in the third quarter of 2016. We think the product has widespread application and well over $100 million of revenue potential over the long term.
In addition, the company has several non-revenue dependent margin expansion initiatives in place, including manufacturing plant consolidation, acquisitions of distributors, and material substitution. New product launches at higher margins should also drive margin expansion. We think the combination of organic growth and margin expansion should drive low double-digit earnings growth, with potential for faster earnings growth if new products accelerate the revenue growth rate or management executes accretive acquisitions.
Baron Asset Fund second quarter shareholder letter.
This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
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The intrinsic value of TFX
