Teladoc Stock Is Rising on a Dose of Optimism for Its Online Therapy Brand
By Josh Nathan-Kazis
June 13, 2019 - BARRON'S
Bank of America Merrill Lynch analyst Allen Lutz is jazzed on telemedicine, initiating his coverage of industry leader Teladoc Health with a Buy rating and a $65 price target, a 12% upside potential from where the stock closed on Wednesday.
Shares of Teladoc (ticker: TDOC) were up more than 1% early trading on Thursday.
In his note, Lutz highlighted the company’s online therapy brand, BetterHelp, as a potential “crown jewel.”
“Teladoc is well positioned to shift a portion of the 1.25 [billion] annual doctor visits to its platform, in our view,” Lutz wrote. “The company is also aggressively pursuing a role in both the behavioral health and expert opinion markets, opportunities the company has sized at $12 [billion] and $28 [billion], respectively.”
The back story.
Teladoc is the early leader in telemedicine, offering long-distance consultations to patients. The company has 26 million members and facilitated 2.6 million telehealth visits in 2018.
Barron’s has been bullish on Teladoc, writing in March that the company would benefit from broader digitization trends in health care.
What’s new.
In his note out on Thursday, Lutz wrote that Teladoc is poised to benefit as telemedicine’s role in the health-care system grows. That shift is already happening. As Lutz notes, new government regulations will allow Medicare Advantage plans to increase their telemedicine offerings in 2020.
Risks remain. Lutz notes that only 10% of Teladoc’s members use the service, which could be a problem for the portion of Teladoc contracts that are based on per-visit fees. Lutz writes that the company may need to spend more on marketing. He also noted that the company had faced scrutiny in recent months around the vetting of the mental-health professionals available through its services.
Lutz also writes that Teladoc faces competition from a number of private companies, and that the telehealth space is highly competitive.
Still, he is bullish, particularly on the promise of the company’s digital therapy offerings. He said that if the company executes well, BetterHelp could grow to more than $200 million in revenue by 2022. “Based on our conversations with management and our analysis of the industry size, we believe the trajectory of revenue growth over the next few years will depend largely on how aggressively Teladoc markets the business, as the addressable market is quite large.”
Looking forward. Wall Street has been wary of Teladoc, with shares down 4.7% over the past year. But investors could be warming up. Shares have rallied since January, up 16.5%, and were up 1.6% to $58.68 shortly after the open on Thursday. The S&P 500 was up 0.3%.
Teladoc Stock Is Rising on a Dose of Optimism for Its Online Therapy Brand
By Josh Nathan-Kazis
June 13, 2019 - BARRON'S
Bank of America Merrill Lynch analyst Allen Lutz is jazzed on telemedicine, initiating his coverage of industry leader Teladoc Health with a Buy rating and a $65 price target, a 12% upside potential from where the stock closed on Wednesday.
Shares of Teladoc (ticker: TDOC) were up more than 1% early trading on Thursday.
In his note, Lutz highlighted the company’s online therapy brand, BetterHelp, as a potential “crown jewel.”
“Teladoc is well positioned to shift a portion of the 1.25 [billion] annual doctor visits to its platform, in our view,” Lutz wrote. “The company is also aggressively pursuing a role in both the behavioral health and expert opinion markets, opportunities the company has sized at $12 [billion] and $28 [billion], respectively.”
The back story.
Teladoc is the early leader in telemedicine, offering long-distance consultations to patients. The company has 26 million members and facilitated 2.6 million telehealth visits in 2018.
Barron’s has been bullish on Teladoc, writing in March that the company would benefit from broader digitization trends in health care.
What’s new.
In his note out on Thursday, Lutz wrote that Teladoc is poised to benefit as telemedicine’s role in the health-care system grows. That shift is already happening. As Lutz notes, new government regulations will allow Medicare Advantage plans to increase their telemedicine offerings in 2020.
Risks remain. Lutz notes that only 10% of Teladoc’s members use the service, which could be a problem for the portion of Teladoc contracts that are based on per-visit fees. Lutz writes that the company may need to spend more on marketing. He also noted that the company had faced scrutiny in recent months around the vetting of the mental-health professionals available through its services.
Lutz also writes that Teladoc faces competition from a number of private companies, and that the telehealth space is highly competitive.
Still, he is bullish, particularly on the promise of the company’s digital therapy offerings. He said that if the company executes well, BetterHelp could grow to more than $200 million in revenue by 2022. “Based on our conversations with management and our analysis of the industry size, we believe the trajectory of revenue growth over the next few years will depend largely on how aggressively Teladoc markets the business, as the addressable market is quite large.”
Looking forward. Wall Street has been wary of Teladoc, with shares down 4.7% over the past year. But investors could be warming up. Shares have rallied since January, up 16.5%, and were up 1.6% to $58.68 shortly after the open on Thursday. The S&P 500 was up 0.3%.