Insulin-Pump Maker Tandem Marks ‘Rebirth’ on Way to 1,800% Rally

Two years ago, Tandem Diabetes Care Inc.’s stock plummeted after a key health insurer favored a rival device, investors fretted about growing competition and analysts wrung their hands over the balance sheet. Shares lost 82 percent in 2016, and performed even worse the following year. Fast forward to 2018: the insulin-pump maker has the hottest stock in medical technology, with shares up more than 1,800 percent.

Tandem’s market value has ballooned to more than $2.5 billion from $26 million just this year in what Chief Financial Officer Leigh Vosseller describes as an “almost a rebirth” following the “roller-coaster ride” that was the past two years. Bullish Wall Street analysts have played leap-frog in a race to slap ever-higher price targets on the stock: the current high stands at $60 a share, compared with Thursday’s $44.22 closing price.