Healthcare
Although revenue grows, VCEL has lost money every year since 1996 (apart from a measly $2.9m in 2020). By the end of 2022, the accumulated deficit reached $400m - a good indication of the historic value-add from this company. Its cartilage surgery costs $40k+ and is often denied insurance coverage, so the number of surgeries is and always has been small. Executives keep promoting concepts that go nowhere and disappear into corporate silence: a cardiovascular treatment, sales of bone marrow, “arthroscopic MACI”, a China venture. None of this has happened. Meanwhile, management rewards itself with ample share compensation - $37m last year.
Edition: 170
- 29 September, 2023