Helius Medical Technologies is undervalued, says Mackie Research

A contract extension with the U.S. Army has Mackie Research Capital analyst André Uddin feeling good about Helius Medical Technologies (Helius Medical Technologies Stock Quote, Chart, News: TSX:HSM).

Yesterday, Helius announced that NeuroHabilitation Corp, a division of the company, had extended its contract with the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command until December 31, 2017. The aim of the partnership is to treat chronic balance deficits in subjects with mild to moderate traumatic brain injury using the company’s portable neuromodulation stimulator.

“Extending this contract reflects a continued commitment from the USAMRMC, and Helius, to address the large unmet clinical need represented by both civilian and military patients that suffer chronic symptoms of traumatic brain injury,” said Helius CEO Phil Deschamps.

Uddin thinks investors should take a look at Helius before the first half of 2017, when he thinks things could get interesting.

“Helius is developing the PoNS device to treat chronic neurological symptoms associated with CNS diseases such as post-traumatic brain injury (TBI) and multiple sclerosis (MS),” notes the analyst. “TBI and MS represent a multi-billion dollar market opportunity. Treatments involving the brain remain an undiscovered frontier for medicine – products in this therapeutic field offer potentially high risk/high reward opportunities. We expect Helius to have a run up into its TBI pivotal trial expected in calendar H1 2017– a catalyst trade.”

In a research update to clients today, Uddin maintained his “Speculative Buy” rating and one-year price target of $3.00 on Helius Medical Technologies, implying a return of 60 per cent at the time of publication.

Uddin thinks Helius will lose $0.13 a share on zero revenue in fiscal 2016, and will lose $0.15 a share on revenue of $13.9-million the following year. In fiscal 2018, he expects the company will turn profitable, posting earnings of $0.27 on a topline of $89.1-million.