Health care, ophthalmology markets offer ‘favorable environment’ for investment
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LAS VEGAS — During a presentation at Eyecelerator@ASCRS, Chris Cooley, CFA, managing director of Stephens Inc., said that health care markets are rallying after COVID-19 disruptions.
“2020 was unprecedented in all of our lifetimes. But the markets today, with actual all-time highs, present their own unique set of challenges and opportunities,” Cooley said. “If I could impart one thing to you today, it’s that despite the increased incidence of COVID-19 variances and the first real inflationary figures that we have seen in about 15 years, there still exists a favorable environment to invest in growth and innovation.”
Since the beginning of 2020, health care has accounted for 50% of all initial public offerings, Cooley said, explaining that the success of these IPOs is due to “a durable economic business model that has the potential for margin expansion in the long term.”
He attributed the returning success of health care markets to a decades-high spike in consumer confidence as well as growing disposable income resulting from factors such as historically low mortgage rates. He also noted that $79.8 billion in venture capital funding was raised in 2020 compared with $60.1 billion in 2019, with $32.7 billion already raised through the first quarter of 2021.
Within the market landscape, “ophthalmology is known for its innovation,” Cooley said.
“The challenges that we face are not the same as what we saw at the start of 2020, but they are no less relevant or less important,” he said.
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Cooley C. Mini keynote: State of the financial markets. Presented at: Eyecelerator@ASCRS; July 22, 2021; Las Vegas.
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