AmazonAMZN is leaving no stone unturned to fortify presence in the healthcare sector.
Reportedly, the company is in talks with a Seattle-based start-up called Xealth to work on a project related to medical supplies. Notably, the start-up assists the patients to manage their health with the aid of its digital health tools and prescriptions.
The pilot project also welcomes the participation of two hospitals namely Providence Health Systems and University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. In fact, both these institutions have invested in Xealth.
Amazon is striving to make the patient's access to medical supplies easier and comfortable with the help of this project. Notably, this project will allow the doctors to prescribe medical products necessary for their patients after a surgery or in general cases through the hospital's online portal.
This will enable the patients to place a purchase order for the items that their doctor has recommended just by logging into their personal page on the hospital portal. The patients will then get them delivered at their doors via Amazon's efficient delivery system.
Medical Supply Market to Benefit
We believe the latest move of the company serves the interests of the patients to a great extent and of the doctors as well, which will be beneficial for the healthcare sector.
Further, it is in sync with its strategy of bolstering presence in the medical supplies market.
Per the report from Energias Market Research, theglobal marketfor medical supplies is expected to reach $140.5 billion by 2023 by growing at a CAGR of 6.3% between 2017 and 2023.
Amazon is well poised to reap benefits from this growing market on the back of its aggressive retail strategies and robust e-commerce platform.
Additionally, new parents and patients with severe illness who require medical support quite often are likely to be attracted by the new project.
Moreover, the company might integrate the online pharmacy supply into this project with the help of PillPack.
All these endeavors are likely to bring more customers to the company's platform, driving its top-line growth in this sector.
Coming to the price performance, shares of Amazon have returned 53.6% on a year-to-date basis, outperforming the industry 's rally of 30.6%.
Growing Focus on Healthcare Sector
Amazon's strong efforts toward healthcare sector will help it to gain momentum in the sector. The recent move holds a lot of potential for future growth.
Recently, the company ventured into the high-potential pharmaceutical industry with the PillPack acquisition. Upon the completion of this buyout, Amazon would be selling prescription medicines online.
Further, the company teamed up with Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase for a healthcare venture in order to bring down health-care costs and improve facilities for their U.S. employees.
Additionally, a team has been built within the company's Alexa division to focus more on health & wellness with the help of its voice assistant. This has strengthened the company's presence in the digital healthcare sector.
Consequently, Amazon's e-commerce platform is completely ready to disrupt this sector. These strong efforts will help the company to expand its benefits from this particular sector which holds immense growth potential.
Amazon.com, Inc. Revenue (TTM)
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Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider
Currently, Amazon carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Some better-ranked stocks in the retail-wholesale sector are TripAdvisor TRIP , Expedia EXPE and Ctrip.com International CTRP . While TripAdvisor sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Expedia and Ctrip.com International carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Long-term earnings growth rate for TripAdvisor, Expedia and Ctrip.com International is currently pegged at 14.52%, 13.85% and 16%, respectively.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
