When my son had a huge boil under his arm, it turned out that it was filled with the killer staph, MRSA. It also turns out that my (otherwise) great doctor used a traditional lab to process the test, which took a week to determine it was MRSA. Cepheid (CPHD) manufactures the equipment and test that takes just two hours to do the same thing—and is better and cheaper than traditional tests. CPHD wins 90%-plus of all competitive bids and its test could be available in low-tech facilities, such as doctors' offices or nursing homes, next year. The big catalyst for this stock, however, is that Medicare will stop paying for all hospital-acquired infections except MRSA in October. So institutions need a quick test if they are going to be reimbursed for treatment. The stock has fallen from $30 to $9 and change. It's worth $20-$22 to an acquirer.
$10.67 (07/24/09)
