Thoratec (NASDAQ:THOR) Top Name in Emerging Medical Tech Space for Barclays (NYSE:BCS)

Thoratec (NASDAQ:THOR) is Barclays (NYSE:BCS) top name in the emerging medical technology segment, and they believe expectations exceeded the reality, which put pressure on comps to live up to them.

Barclays noted, "After two quarters of softer pump volumes, we expect THOR to report much stronger 4Q numbers based on our tracking data from INTERMACS. We believe investor expectations got too far ahead of following the strength of 1Q results, which benefitted from a 'bolus' of patients waiting for the Heartmate II's approval for destination therapy. This set tough comps for the remainder of 2010, and combined with strong data from competitor Heartware (Nasdaq:HTWR), hurt sentiment for THOR shares. However, we believe the market is excessively pessimistic regarding THOR's LVAD franchise although we expect 4Q results will begin to restore investor confidence.

"Heading into 2011, THOR is our favorite name in the emerging medical technology space. In addition to a stronger 4Q, we believe THOR shares will benefit from the upcoming pipeline update. We believe investors don't fully appreciate THOR's ability to bring a fully-implantable system to market by 2015."

Barclays maintains an "Overweight" rating on Thoratec, which closed Tuesday at $28.70, up $0.11, or 0.38 percent. Barclays has a price target of $39 on them.