Shares of Teladoc (TDOC), which offers a telehealth platform to deliver on-demand healthcare to patients through mobile devices, the Internet, video and phone, and athenahealth (ATHN), which offers network-enabled services to support healthcare providers, are sliding after a report that discussed Amazon’s (AMZN) “secret” health care projects.
AMAZON 1492: Amazon has started a secret health care team, called “1492,” which focuses on hardware and software projects in areas including electronic medical records, telemedicine and health apps, CNBC reported last night. The team is currently seeking opportunities that involve data from legacy electronic medical record systems in an effort to provide that information to consumers and their doctors, according to the report.
SPECTRE OF AMAZON: As these two stocks appear to be reacting to even a notion that Amazon may be planning to enter their areas of expertise, shares of Ulta Beauty (ULTA) slid yesterday following a news report claiming that the e-commerce giant is considering a partnership deal with beauty space retailer Violet Grey. Other stocks that have recently had pullbacks attributed to Amazon headline worries include Home Depot (HD), Lowe’s (LOW), Best Buy (BBY), Whirlpool (WHR), Zillow (Z, ZG) and Core-Mark (CORE).
PRICE ACTION: In early trading, athenahealth has slipped 1.7% to $143.24 while Teladoc is down over 6% to $32.20.
