- Sapporo Holdings (TSE:2501): Assessing Valuation After Recent Share Price Movement
Dec 1, 2025
Sapporo Holdings (TSE:2501) recently drew investor attention after a shift in its stock price, prompting a closer look at the company’s fundamentals and performance. The move comes as investors weigh the latest developments for this well-known beverage and real estate group.
See our latest analysis for Sapporo Holdings.
Despite a recent dip in its share price, Sapporo Holdings has shown pockets of resilience. Its 1-month share price return stands at nearly 8%, building on moderate 90-day gains. Over the longer term, however, total shareholder returns have lagged, with a 1-year return of -9% despite impressive 3-year and 5-year cumulative growth.
If you’re tracking momentum shifts like Sapporo’s, this could be the perfect time to spot opportunities and discover fast growing stocks with high insider ownership
The question now is whether Sapporo’s current share price overlooks its recovery potential, or if recent growth means future upside has already been factored in. Could this be a genuine buying opportunity or just fair value at play?
Price-to-Earnings of 87.7x: Is it justified?
Sapporo Holdings currently trades at a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 87.7x, significantly above typical peer and industry levels. At its most recent closing price of ¥7,985, this premium valuation stands out among beverage sector companies.
The price-to-earnings ratio measures how much investors are willing to pay for each yen of earnings. Higher ratios often signal high expectations for future growth or reflect recent earnings volatility. In Sapporo’s case, the multiple is far above both the Asian beverage industry average and its direct peer group.
Compared to the industry’s average P/E of 19.3x and the peer average of 17.8x, Sapporo’s 87.7x is markedly higher. Even relative to the estimated fair P/E of 43.1x, the stock appears considerably expensive, suggesting the market is pricing in aggressive profit recovery or future catalysts. That fair ratio could represent a level investors recalibrate toward if expectations shift.
Explore the SWS fair ratio for Sapporo Holdings
Result: Price-to-Earnings of 87.7x (OVERVALUED)
However, slower revenue growth and a discounted analyst price target remain key risks that could challenge optimism around Sapporo’s expensive valuation.
Find out about the key risks to this Sapporo Holdings narrative.
Another View: Discounted Cash Flow Model Suggests Even Greater Overvaluation
Looking through the lens of our SWS DCF model, Sapporo Holdings appears even more overvalued than suggested by its high price-to-earnings ratio. The current share price of ¥7,985 is significantly above our estimate of fair value at around ¥1,492, which indicates more downside risk compared to the multiples analysis alone.
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Look into how the SWS DCF model arrives at its fair value.2501 Discounted Cash Flow as at Dec 2025
Simply Wall St performs a discounted cash flow (DCF) on every stock in the world every day (check out Sapporo Holdings for example). We show the entire calculation in full. You can track the result in your watchlist or portfolio and be alerted when this changes, or use our stock screener to discover 916 undervalued stocks based on their cash flows. If you save a screener we even alert you when new companies match - so you never miss a potential opportunity.
Build Your Own Sapporo Holdings Narrative
Keep in mind, if you see things differently or want to draw your own conclusions, you can easily create a personal view in just a few minutes. Do it your way
A great starting point for your Sapporo Holdings research is our analysis highlighting 1 key reward and 3 important warning signs that could impact your investment decision.
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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
Companies discussed in this article include 2501.T.
Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com
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- Could Sapporo Holdings Be Set for Growth After Recent Share Price Surge in 2025?
Sep 15, 2025
If you have been tracking Sapporo Holdings, you have likely wondered if now is the right time to make a move on the stock. The last close price sits at 7,450 yen, and while the stock dipped a modest 0.2% in the past week, the broader story is far more interesting. Over the past month, Sapporo shares climbed 3.5%, and though year-to-date performance remains down by 5.6%, the longer-term gains are nothing short of impressive. Think about it: 1.0% up over the past year, a remarkable 144.0% over three years, and a massive 308.7% surge across five years. That kind of growth does not happen by luck alone.
Much of this momentum has reflected wider market trends, including shifts in sector sentiment and evolving investor appetite for Japanese consumer staples. While the headlines have certainly played their part, the real question remains: is the current price justified, or could Sapporo Holdings be trading at a bargain?
Looking at valuation, the company achieves a score of 3 out of 6 on key undervaluation checks. That means it is passing half the most common metrics used by investors to spot undervalued opportunities. But as you will see, numbers only tell part of the story. Let's break down what these valuation approaches reveal, and later on, I will share an even sharper way to make sense of whether Sapporo Holdings is truly undervalued right now.
Sapporo Holdings delivered 1.0% returns over the last year. See how this stacks up to the rest of the Beverage industry.
Approach 1: Sapporo Holdings Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) Analysis
The Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model estimates a company’s intrinsic value by projecting its future cash flows and discounting them back to today’s value. This reflects what those future profits are worth right now. For Sapporo Holdings, the most recent full-year free cash flow stands at around ¥18.7 billion.
Analyst estimates suggest a sharp rise in free cash flow over the next decade. Projections indicate free cash flow could reach about ¥82.2 billion by 2035. This robust projected growth is partly based on analyst forecasts for the next five years, then further extrapolated to reflect potential future performance.
Using the 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity model and these projections, the DCF analysis calculates an intrinsic value of ¥21,441 per share for Sapporo Holdings. Compared to the current share price of ¥7,450, this figure implies the stock trades at a steep 65.3% discount to its fair value according to this long-term approach.
Result: UNDERVALUED
Head to the Valuation section of our Company Report for more details on how we arrive at this Fair Value for Sapporo Holdings.
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2501 Discounted Cash Flow as at Sep 2025
Our Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) analysis suggests Sapporo Holdings is undervalued by 65.3%. Track this in your watchlist or portfolio, or discover more undervalued stocks.
Approach 2: Sapporo Holdings Price vs Sales
The Price-to-Sales (PS) ratio is a valuable metric when analyzing companies like Sapporo Holdings. For businesses with established revenue but variable profits, the PS ratio offers a clearer snapshot of how the market values each yen of sales. It is particularly handy for consumer staples and beverage companies, where profits can swing due to investment cycles. Overall sales offer a steadier guide to long-term value.
Generally, higher growth prospects and lower risks justify higher PS ratios. A fast-growing company in a stable sector will usually warrant a pricier multiple, while slower or riskier businesses are expected to trade at a discount. In Sapporo Holdings’ case, the current PS ratio stands at 1.10x. That is lower than both the industry average of 1.85x and the peer average of 0.75x in the Beverage sector.
However, benchmarking solely against industry or peer group averages can miss the specifics that matter. Simply Wall St’s proprietary Fair Ratio for Sapporo Holdings is 0.88x. This ratio goes further by factoring in not only sector norms, but also the company’s own growth trajectory, margins, risks, and market capitalization. This tailored approach gives a more relevant comparison for today’s market environment.
Right now, Sapporo Holdings’ PS ratio of 1.10x is just above its Fair Ratio of 0.88x. The difference is modest, indicating the stock is priced about right compared to where it should be based on its fundamentals and outlook.
Result: ABOUT RIGHTTSE:2501 PS Ratio as at Sep 2025
PS ratios tell one story, but what if the real opportunity lies elsewhere? Discover companies where insiders are betting big on explosive growth.
Upgrade Your Decision Making: Choose your Sapporo Holdings Narrative
Earlier we mentioned there is an even better way to understand valuation, so let us introduce you to Narratives. A Narrative is your opportunity to blend a company’s story and outlook, such as your expectations for future revenue or profit margins, with the numbers, turning them into a connected financial forecast and ultimately a fair value estimate.
This process is both simple and accessible for investors of any experience level. Narratives are available on Simply Wall St’s Community page, used by millions, letting you create or explore different perspectives shared by others.
Narratives help investors make smarter decisions by comparing their calculated Fair Value with the current share price. This answers that crucial “buy or sell?” question based on their unique story and assumptions. What makes Narratives powerful is they update dynamically with breaking news or fresh earnings data, so your viewpoint always incorporates the latest information.
For example, one Sapporo Holdings investor may see aggressive expansion and assign a high fair value, while another might predict slow growth and set a much lower one. Both viewpoints are instantly visible for comparison within Narratives.
Do you think there's more to the story for Sapporo Holdings? Create your own Narrative to let the Community know!TSE:2501 Earnings & Revenue History as at Sep 2025
This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
Companies discussed in this article include 2501.
Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com
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- Sharecare to go public in $3.9B SPAC, IPO deal
Feb 24, 2021
Jeff Arnold, Sharecare CEO and WebMD Founder, joins Yahoo Finance to discuss the benefits of artificial intelligence in healthcare, benefits of using the platform, and highlights on the SPAC.
Video Transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING]
MYLES UDLAND: All right, welcome back to "Yahoo Finance Live" on this Wednesday morning. As our viewers know, SPACs have been the hottest trend in markets of late. And we have another announcement or had won just a couple of weeks ago. Sharecare will come public in a merger with Falcon Capital Acquisition Corp. And Sharecare CEO Jeff Arnold joins us now to discuss. Jeff, thanks so much for joining the program this morning. I'd love to start just with kind of where Sharecare fits into a theme we've discussed a lot with a number of companies. I think of it as broadly digitizing the health care space. I don't know if that's how you guys are thinking about it. And just maybe where some of our viewers have probably come into contact with Sharecare without even knowing.
JEFF ARNOLD: Yeah, sure, well, you know, I've been in digital health for most of my career. I started at WebMD back in 1998. And I think what's really exciting for digital health now is we're moving beyond just being able to get trusted content, but to be able to really leverage technology now to bring the ecosystem to the palm of the person's hand. So instead of having to go to the hospital website or download the insurance company's app or only think about your benefits during open enrollment, you know, technology is now enabling us to put all that together in one place directly to the person.
JULIE HYMAN: Jeff, it's Julie here. I was going through your investor presentation. And, indeed, it seems like you guys do a little bit of everything when it comes to digital health. But from what I was gathering, it seems like the largest proportion of your revenue comes from services for-- directly to health care providers and insurers, if I'm understanding that correctly. What is that relationship? And what services are you providing to them?
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JEFF ARNOLD: Yeah, so think of Sharecare as this idea of all together better. So we're all together better when we can bring the ecosystem to the palm of the person's hand. We're all together better when we can move away from the sea of apps to integrated platforms. And we're all better-- together better when we can go from my health to our health.
And our business looks almost like a wedding cake. We're on the bottom. We have a big enterprise business where we service government, large health plans, and employers. And what we do for them is in a single platform, we provide them with benefits and health care navigation. We provide them with digital therapeutics. So we have interventions to help get better outcomes. And we provide advocacy services.
BRIAN SOZZI: Jeff, there's been a good number of digital health companies that have emerged during the pandemic and, really, growing aggressively. As a veteran in the space, do you expect there to be a roll-up moment where a lot of these companies, let's say such as yourself, acquire other companies and combine to grow bigger or, ultimately, these players, again, such as yourself, just become part of a bigger health care company?
JEFF ARNOLD: Yeah, I mean, yeah, I think Sharecare's aspirations are we want to be the front door of health care. And so we deploy this one integrated platform to these big health plans that reach millions of members. We announced the largest Medicare Advantage plan this weekend in South Florida. But I think more is better here. What's happened historically in digital health is that clients have really suffered from vendor fatigue.
You know, how do I buy all these different point solutions? How do I make the data interoperable? How do I make the user experience easy to understand? How do I make it affordable for all? So the Sharecares of the world have come along and said, you know, technology is now here where we can provide you this one integrated platform that can help educate people on what their baseline looks like. For us, that's the real age.
We can help educate people on their real time, so be able to do holistic tracking. But more importantly, be able to use technology to take health plan members and employees on a journey that helps them understand their numbers, manage their risk, manage their conditions, understand their benefits. And I think the goal of all this technology is to use technology to get that triple aim of improving outcomes and lowering costs and improving satisfaction. But more importantly, get people to move from episodic to everyday.
JULIE HYMAN: Jeff, I want to turn to the SPAC structure because one of the questions I've had as we've had this explosion in SPACs late last year and coming into early this year is what would have all these companies done had there not been a SPAC boom? So I would ask you as someone who's also been through an initial public offering with WebMD, what was your plan before this whole SPAC boom, earlier on? Were you planning an IPO and then you switched?
JEFF ARNOLD: Yeah, well, you know, if there's a silver lining in the pandemic, which is hard to see, it has been digital health, is people more so than ever self-aware of their risk. This has become a must-buy for CEOs and investing in a culture of well-being.
We had to scale to go public. I mean, we'll do over $396 million in revenue this year. We're EBITDA and cash flow positive. We had a board meeting in Q4 and said, look at what's happening in the market for digital health and the investor demand that's out there, we should hit the dance floor too. And we started getting approached by various SPACs.
And I didn't know much about SPACs at the time. But as I started to get educated about them, I saw some benefits that I thought were really attractive. One, you know, being able to talk to investors for an hour and really be able to explain health care. Because health care super complicated. We thought for Sharecare, that was a great benefit, being able to share forecasts. You know, we've had a big COVID boom in digital health. So to be able to tell how our revenue is accelerating and how we think that is going to last for forever forward as within this new normal.
And then we found some really quality SPAC sponsors. And our example, it was Falcon who was led by Alan Mnuchin, who's got amazing capital markets expertise. They had good experience with SPACs as Jeff Sagansky as partner and Harry Sloan had done the DraftKings SPAC. They had done the Skillz SPAC. And so, you know, being able to talk to investors, having capital market expertise, having SPAC success in the past, we saw it as real benefits as well as getting public a little bit faster.
MYLES UDLAND: You know, Jeff, just finally before we let you go, I want to ask maybe a broader question. Just looking kind of through your experience about where you see like medical content going, if that makes sense, WebMD and just-- I mean, you've seen digital content go from something that doesn't really exist to pretty much all we consume all day. I don't know if that's an ambition you have of Sharecare being more integrated with consumers, but I'm curious how you see this space as a veteran of it?
JEFF ARNOLD: Yeah, so I think trusted information is obviously really important. I mean, we're in a space where the information has to be right 100% of the time. I think being able to take that trusted information and be able to data-driven dialogue, so no two content experiences are the same. Your content experience is different than my content experience. And being able to go where the person's at, so whether it's at their job or through their health plan or as a patient or on social media is going to be key. I think artificial intelligence is going to unlock the next explosion of where we're going to be able to take data and not just be able to create dialogue and educate people, but we're going to be able to create insights.
And so this idea of, you know, using AI to be able to optimize my diet, you know, by taking pictures of my food and being able to figure out what's the right diet for me, or be able to optimize my mood, I mean, I can literally take a picture of your face and tell you what your height and your weight and your BMI looks like and start to track different elements of your smile to track your mood to be able to provide interventions, all the way to where I think the new UI is going to be no UI, that everything is going to be done on voice commands so you're going to be able to say, when was the last time I had an eye exam? Refill my prescription. Schedule my doctor's appointment.
And this idea of sharing care, what I think this is going to mean over time is that I share my data with Sharecare so that I can optimize my health. But I'm also sharing my data in an anonymous way so I can optimize our health. And I think this is going to become our Operation Warp Speed and is going to be what the essence of Sharecare means over time and how we build community that lasts forever.
MYLES UDLAND: All right, I'll make sure to smile for the camera so I'll look happy, healthy, and I get a good report from my medical team. All right, Jeff Arnold--
JEFF ARNOLD: [INAUDIBLE]
MYLES UDLAND: --CEO of Sharecare. Jeff, appreciate the time this morning. Hopefully, you know, congrats on the transaction. Hopefully we'll talk as you guys get into the quarterly rhythm of reports. Appreciate the time.
JEFF ARNOLD: Absolutely, thanks for having me. Take care.
- Lessons to take from previous market bubbles
Feb 24, 2021
Kristen Bitterly, regional head of investments for North America at Citi Private Bank, joins Yahoo Finance to discuss inflation and crypto concerns, the rise in yields, and consumer confidence.
Video Transcript
MYLES UDLAND: Let's stay on the economy and talk a bit more about everything happening in the markets. We're joined now by Kristen Bitterly. She is the regional head of investments for North America at Citi Private Bank. Kristen, thanks for joining the program this morning. I'd love to start with rates and what you guys are thinking about the signal we can reliably say is coming from the long end of the bond market and how you're trying to decompose some of those pressures that maybe have investors worried or maybe folks are just looking through.
KRISTEN BITTERLY: Yeah, so the price action that we've seen obviously in broader markets and particularly within rates, this has been driving everything over the past couple of days. And this question about, OK, should we be worried about inflation, the curve steepening, what does that mean for growth stocks? And so in terms of how we've been positioned going into this, we've actually been pulling back from some of what we call the COVID defensive stocks that have really seen a run over the past 12 months and then rotating into what we call COVID cyclicals. So we've been doing that rotation. And we've also been positioning our portfolios in anticipation of some of this inflationary concern as well as rising rates.
Because as the data gets better-- So some of the things you were just talking about. So the consumer savings rate, the average savings rate in the US is twice the amount it was last year. As we think about this pent-up demand and when that actually, when the 15% of the global economy that's currently shut down, when that actually comes back online, what does that mean? So looking at our portfolios, basically, if you're looking at this curve steepening, what things are punitive? It's cash and duration.
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So where we're positioned right now is we're trying to find ways of augmenting income without taking on duration. And we're actually trying to convince people that cash is punitive. Because when you look at it on an inflation-adjusted basis, you're almost guaranteed to lose value.
- Well, seeing that people have seemingly been pouring money into lots of stuff that has a higher return, maybe they're getting that message that cash is punitive right now. I want to pick up on the discussion we were just having about consumer confidence. I don't know where in the world you are. But this sort of perception that maybe we're a little skewed here in the Northeast in terms of how open the economy is. Both anecdotally and the actual data, how optimistic are you in terms of economic growth right now?
KRISTEN BITTERLY: So I'm in the Northeast as well. So in terms of-- I'm here in Brooklyn. So in terms of my own perception of it, I can say that I definitely feel that that 15% of the global economy is still definitely shut down where it may be more open depending upon climate. I think that consumer confidence, we still see-- so, yes, there's certain parts of the market where people are pouring money into the market. And we've seen that. But we also do see that hesitancy in terms of getting invested. And so I can understand that consumer confidence kind of being right in the middle, that there is improving data, right? So you have this element of vaccines, the distribution of vaccines.
You also have more-- more vaccines coming to market, right, and more efficacious treatment. So this idea that you could see a summer that would be a little bit more normal I think is something that, that consumers are getting comfortable with. And they are starting to think about planning things like vacations and how basically they're going to be coming back to normal in a post-pandemic world. But we've seen spending-- so you guys were mentioning kind of the spending in terms of home improvements and the first time someone bought a drill.
We've seen that type of spending. But, obviously, there still is this pent-up demand. And there still is a pent up demand for all of those really heavy-hit COVID cyclical industries, which is something that will drive the consumer behavior, and I think ultimately something that will be a reinforcement of whether we actually see strong consumer confidence.
- Kristen, is too much being made out of the rise in 10-year yields? It's not as if the 10-year is at 4%. It's at 1.4%, remains very low historically. Are you at that point where 1.4% is triggering you to make changes in your portfolios?
KRISTEN BITTERLY: You know what I think the market is wrestling with right now? So when we look at the 10-year where it's at, we almost have to go back and say, look, the 10-year in December of 2019 was at 1.9%. So the economy was functioning very, very well. Technology and growth stocks were actually continuing to dominate the market and grow. And so I think what the market is wrestling with right now is whether this rotation that we're seeing, is it a rotation or is it catch-up of COVID cyclicals? So the price action that we see today, obviously, you're seeing some of that rotation. You're seeing financials perform very well. You're seeing tech hurt a little bit. But I think one of the questions that we're all struggling with is really kind of pivoting more to real earnings as opposed to expectations.
And so what I mean by that is yes, you can see why financials would perform well with the curve steepening. You can see parts of, once the economy reopens, those sectors actually doing particularly well. But I think one question on everyone's mind is so when you look at some of these companies that have been dominating the market-- so let's talk about the big five, right, so like Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Facebook-- when you look at them, they're right now around 18% of market cap. But they're 25% of earnings. And so in terms of representation from a contribution of earnings standpoint, you can almost make the argument that they're underrepresented. And so I think the focus and what everyone's going to be watching very closely is can these companies actually continue these really stellar earnings and continue to deliver even as we move to a post COVID-world?
MYLES UDLAND: Now Kristen, something you flagged to us is that all your clients or many of your clients are asking about if we're in a bubble. How that fits in here, I think everyone likes talking about it because the big fun word to say. And related to that also is the crypto conversation. All this speculation that happens, not just in financial markets, but tangential to financial markets, how are you guys talking through some of those concerns or maybe the FOMO, perhaps, that the [? senior ?] client base is having if they are not really allocated to those kinds of areas?
KRISTEN BITTERLY: Yeah, so are we-- the question about are we in a bubble and where to put capital to work, I think you always have to put it into perspective. My colleague Robert Buckland did a really great piece, an op-ed piece in the "Financial Times" that walked through just putting it into perspective compared to 2000, for example. And if we look at the price action not just over the past-- I think everyone's looking at this price action since March and since the depths of the pandemic. But if we take a step back and we actually look at over the past three years, what price action are we seeing in equity markets? Well, the past three years, you can say the NASDAQ is up 90%. So 30% per annum, that's actually very, very strong. We all would agree with that.
But going into the tech bubble, it was completely different. It was around 300%. US equities up around 36%, so 12% per annum. Once we got outside the US though, it's a very different story. So emerging markets up 12% over that time period, the DAX flat, UK equity is are actually negative over that same time period. So I think the one thing is when you're looking at, are we in a bubble? There are parts of the market that, yes, feel that way, look that way, seem overheated. And that's why I go back to, are they-- are these parts of the market, are they delivering on earnings or not?
And the other thing is to focus on, where haven't you seen some of the snapback? Where are you looking from a relative valuation standpoint that's attractive? And an example of that, global health care. So global health care, you would think in a pandemic, right, in a pandemic, health care would absolutely be rallying. But what we've seen is on a relative PE basis, it's at the lowest levels relative to global equities in about a decade.
So we like health care for a variety of reasons, not just because of the pandemic, but more of a demographic argument. But it's a strong sector, high free cash flow generating. So there's areas of the market where it makes a lot of sense to invest-- not only short term, but long term.
MYLES UDLAND: All right Kristen Bitterly is the Regional Head of Investments for North America at Citi Private Bank. Kristen great to get your thoughts this morning. Thanks so much for joining the program. We'll talk soon.
- New project looks to identify problems in the U.S. health system
Feb 12, 2021
Yahoo Finance’s Kristin Myers and Anjalee Khemlani, along with Zack Cooper, Associate Professor of Public Health and Economics at Yale University, discuss the 1% Steps Project’s objective to make health care spending more efficient.
Video Transcript
KRISTIN MYERS: Welcome back to "Yahoo Finance Live." Now, our next guest says that small, incremental changes can have huge impacts on the health care system. And an organization called 1% Steps aims to look at how. Let's bring in Zack Cooper, associate professor of public health and economics at Yale University, as well as Yahoo Finance's Anjalee Khemlani for this conversation. So Zack, what is the low hanging fruit in the health care system that can be fixed?
ZACK COOPER: Well, I think, take a step back. If the US health system was a country, it would be the fourth largest country in the world. And I think that offers some guidance about how we should be thinking about health care spending and how we reduce it.
There's not one thing wrong in the US health care system. There are all of these discrete problems that require sort of incremental plumbing-like solutions. So we see a lot of hospital mergers that are making markets less competitive. We need to fix that.
There are some quirks in how Medicare pays for certain types of drugs. That's 1% of health spending right there. There are just all these little problems that add up. But when we think about it, a 1% inefficiency in the health care system is about what we'd be spending to give universal pre-K to the entire country.
ANJALEE KHEMLANI: Zack, I know that recently, you also had a publication focused on MRI scans. And that's something to look at when we talk about some of the easy or sort of low hanging fruit on how to direct and control health spending. Can you walk us through that a little bit and tell us what the finding was on why more spending happens or why spending is inefficient?
ZACK COOPER: Yeah. So I think it's a really good example of the sort of potential. So the average person out there actually drives past six cheaper MRI locations between their home and where they ultimately get care. And if they didn't, if they just literally went to the place closest to their house, on average in the country, we'd [GARBLED AUDIO] lower health care spending by about 3/4 of a percent, so tens of billions of dollars.
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And then the question is sort of how do you get people to make better choices? And it turns out exposing people to high out-of-pocket costs doesn't do it. What you really want to do sort of help their doctor help their patients make better choices. So you sort of tell the doctor the prices of different locations around where the doctor practices.
It's sort of these small steps that each sort of aren't super-remarkable in their own right, but that collectively add up to big reductions in health spending. And our sort of point is nobody writes country music songs about incrementalism. But it's actually going to be that sort of incrementalism that we need to lower our insurance premiums.
KRISTIN MYERS: OK, if we were to add up all of these incremental steps. And Anjalee's partially laughing because I was stunned when I heard that 1% could fund universal pre-K, I believe you said. So if we were to add up all of those small, incremental changes, how much of a savings are we going to get, or essentially, how many other programs could we fund here in the US if we just made health care spending more efficient?
ZACK COOPER: $400 billion. It's the size of a small country. It's just it's enormous, the scale of the inefficiency that we see.
KRISTIN MYERS: Wow, I'm speechless. Anjalee, take it away.
ANJALEE KHEMLANI: I know there's a lot-- Zack is really big on this. But let's talk about what you're trying to do with the 1%. Obviously, pushing a lot of this in front of the policymakers is a big deal. Why can't we do sort of a bigger overhaul, kind of in the way that Obamacare came through? Why can't we do that with health spending and control? Especially in recent past, we've seen things like price transparency come to light. Why isn't that effective?
ZACK COOPER: So I think the heart is most of the big legislation that we can pass actually increases health care spending, and that's because it's, in a sense, easier to give people things than it is to take away. And I think one of the big challenges in the US health care system is, each dollar is actually somebody's income. And we're all pretty good at sort of making sure our income doesn't come down.
And so I think the sort of key message here is identifying waste and then taking it out. And so the idea was to sort of find the 15 or 20 best economists I could think of. And there are couple of Nobel laureates in the mix. And saying, what are some really big inefficiencies that you've identified in your work? And what are concrete steps that would fix it? And then putting those on paper, and then taking it to the Hill and taking it to legislators.
And I think one of the real upsides of doing it that way is you sort of say, look, here are tangible steps. I think a lot of us are really good at dunking what doesn't work. And the idea here is to actually say what you can do. And it just turns out, when you say what you can do, it's a little less dramatic than [GARBLED AUDIO] to be.
ANJALEE KHEMLANI: And then finally, I know that you said you have a mix of people. Why get that mix instead of just health care experts or top experts in health care?
ZACK COOPER: Time. I tried to find as many people as we could. And we want more coming forward. So if folks have good ideas, they should reach out. And the idea is finding all of these discrete problems and then offering a tangible roadmap to fix them. And the more we find, the bigger the savings we'll make.
I think the analogy for how we address health care spending in the US is more like Whack-A-Mole than sort of shifting tectonic plates. We want to find all these leaky pipes, fix them, and actually make the system run a little more efficiently.
KRISTIN MYERS: I'm still stuck back on $400 billion worth of savings, which should be a nice point of bipartisan support and a bit of common ground for everyone. Thank you so much, Zack Cooper, associate professor of public health and economics at Yale University, of course, Yahoo Finance's Anjalee Khemlani for an absolutely fascinating and really important conversation.
- Vaccine accessibility to underserved communities rests on individual states: Infectious disease physician
Feb 12, 2021
Yahoo Finance’s Kristin Myers and Dr. Mati Hlatshwayo Davis, infectious disease physician, discuss vaccine rollout amid the pandemic.
Video Transcript
KRISTIN MYERS: Welcome back to Yahoo Finance Live. Turning now to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the Biden administration has secured 200 million more vaccine doses, as there are still challenges in speeding up vaccinations. We're joined now by Dr. Mati Hlatshwayo Davis, infectious disease physician at Washington University School of Medicine and the John Cochrane VA Medical Center.
So, doctor, let's start on that point of the vaccinations. The Biden administration saying that there are still a lot of challenges going forward in the distribution. As you're seeing it, what remains some of the largest challenges in speeding up getting those vaccine doses into the arms of Americans?
MATI HLATSHWAYO DAVIS: You know, I can speak to what we're seeing here in St. Louis. I sit on the board of health for the city of St. Louis. And it's been very hard to see certain areas in individual states procure vaccine product. So while it is very encouraging to hear that there is so much more vaccine coming in, it will really rest on the individual states to make sure that there is a very clear, transparent, and equitable rollout of those vaccines.
We are seeing in local jurisdictions and counties versus cities a lot of frustration with the sign-up process, with the ability to access these vaccines in marginalized populations, especially Black and Brown communities, who are already disproportionately affected. And so this increases the already quite wide mistrust that those communities have for both local government and the medical community, when there isn't a clear and equitable rollout.
KRISTIN MYERS: You know, I feel like that's a point that hasn't been talked about a lot. It was a huge fear, and then it almost seems as if people kind of forgot a little bit about that. What is going to be needed in order to get that vaccine rollout done quickly still, but far more equitably to those communities that have been underserved, at least when it comes to healthcare, and have unequal access to healthcare?
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MATI HLATSHWAYO DAVIS: I, for one, am tired of superficial platitudes. It's not enough to say you care about these communities, but to not have a very visible plan in place. Many of us in the public health sector have been calling for this since way before these vaccines came. So there was time to prepare. I really commend the Biden and Harris administration for making racial equity one of the four cornerstones of their administration. But now it's time to really back that up.
And nothing gets done-- nothing gets done without appropriate funding and policy to back it up. We have community partnerships, community leaders, trusted messengers in all of these local communities who have already earned the trust of these communities. Because let's be clear. You cannot manufacture that kind of trust overnight. We know that the vast majority of people in these communities have already said they wouldn't even take a vaccine if it was available.
And so we need that funding. President Biden has talked about taking funding from the Defense Production fund towards this vaccine effort. And that is needed with appropriate funding. States need clear guidance from the federal government. And that then needs to trickle down into local communities. But the community partnerships are here and ready to go. They have helped with the HIV crisis. They have helped with so many other public health issues that we've had. So those are the trusted messengers that we need to empower, in my mind.
KRISTIN MYERS: I want to turn now to reopening that we have. We have some loosening restrictions. I want to start first on schools, the CDC issuing new guidance. And there was suggestions of phasing in schools, but also using a color coding system about which schools can reopen and which ones can't. Is that the best way to go about it?
MATI HLATSHWAYO DAVIS: At the end of the day, this needs to be a data driven process. Not all schools are in areas that, unfortunately, are prepared to open. We still need to be looking at what is happening with the numbers on the ground. And we still need to be aware that not all school districts have the same availability of resources at the end of the day. The same schools that were struggling before the pandemic will be in even worse trouble if they don't have the type of support to open safely.
You know, those people, like myself, quite frankly, who live in neighborhoods and aren't privileged enough to have access to schools that have that type of support, that have those types of resources, have done phenomenally well. We listened to, here in St. Louis, some data being rolled out all the way from elementary schools that have been open for the last couple of months, all the way up to secondary and tertiary education institutions. And the numbers are very, very reassuring. But what's obvious is that those are places that have the resources available. So that's what needs to be looked at, is that, again, equity is there around how these schools can open safely.
KRISTIN MYERS: I want to turn now to another reopening that's happening here in New York. They're going to be reopening indoor dining for restaurants, which makes me a little bit uneasy, especially as we have all of these viruses and mutations out there. Is that the right call to make right now, to allow indoor dining to go forward?
MATI HLATSHWAYO DAVIS: Yeah, I mean, I sound like a broken record. From here, what I've seen that's been successful is that counties, cities, jurisdictions that have paid attention to the data, to what the case positivity rate is in their individual cities, are then able to make an informed decision about how they can open safely.
Doing so prematurely will continue to set us back and make it difficult for us to get through this. It's very clear. It's very clear that even globally, areas that paid attention to the case positivity rate and kept things shut down when they needed to have done enormously well and have been able to maintain some freedom, even after they opened, because they did so at the right time. If New York is at that point, absolutely.
Listen, no one understands more than I do, having family members who are small business owners myself, how difficult this has been economically. But at the end of the day, if we do this prematurely, we're going to be in a whole host of trouble. Now there's a lot of ways to support businesses if you're in a place where that case positivity rate does support opening. And clearly, listening to the guidelines still. Masking has to be in place. Social distancing has to be in place. In winter, it's challenging to have outdoor dining. So that has to be thought about as well. So all of these things need to be taken into account.
KRISTIN MYERS: Dr. Mati Hlatshwayo-- excuse me-- Davis from Washington University School of Medicine--
MATI HLATSHWAYO DAVIS: Oh, you're doing great. You nailed it.
KRISTIN MYERS: I was making sure I have to get people's names correct.
MATI HLATSHWAYO DAVIS: Listen--
KRISTIN MYERS: From Washington University School of--
MATI HLATSHWAYO DAVIS: --as a person whose name literally gets butchers all the time, you nailed it. I appreciate it.
KRISTIN MYERS: Thank you so much for joining us. Happy Friday to you.
- Pfizer is Yahoo Finance Premium’s investment idea of the day
Feb 11, 2021
Yahoo Finance’s Kristin Myers and Jared Blikre discuss Yahoo Finance Premium’s investment idea of the day.
Video Transcript
KRISTIN MYERS: And next up, I know that you're tracking Yahoo Finance Premium's Investment Idea of the Day, which is a buy call on Pfizer. So what's behind that bullish outlook?
JARED BLIKRE: Well, let's take a look. This comes by way of Argus Research. This is a fundamental report on Pfizer. And you can see there the stock really hasn't done much over the last year. It's down about 5%. But let's take a look at some of their reasoning here.
So they're saying they're maintaining their $55 price target with the reasoning that Pfizer is scaling up manufacturing to meet its commitment to deliver 2 billion doses of its coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year. Management projects approximately $15 billion in 2021 revenue from the vaccine, making it by far the largest product in their portfolio.
However, we think the market is underestimating the sustainability of the COVID-19 vaccine franchise and its revenue contribution beyond 2021. We believe that this revenue will prove sustainable based on the company's ability to use the mRNA platform to develop vaccine booster shots and address new virus variants, as well as to create treatments for other conditions. So there you have it there, Kristin.
- ‘We have to double down on public health measures:’ Doctor on COVID-19 variants
Feb 11, 2021
Yahoo Finance’s Kristin Myers and Dr. Uche Blackstock, CEO of Advancing Health Equity, discuss the implications of COVID-19 variants.
Video Transcript
KRISTIN MYERS: But let's talk about the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Concerns continue to grow over the coronavirus mutations, which might reduce the effectiveness of the coronavirus vaccine. We're joined now by Dr. Uche Blackstock, CEO of Advancing Health Equity and Yahoo News medical contributor. Doctor, great to see you. It's been a little bit of time since we last talked.
So, as I was mentioning those mutations and those strains-- you know, and it seemed at first, everyone was saying, listen, don't worry. This happens to viruses all the time, which is true. We know that viruses do mutate. But I feel as if the news around these mutations has been getting more and more alarming, as the days and the weeks go on. So I guess, the question I want to ask you here, how concerned should we be about these viruses, these mutations, and these new strains?
UCHE BLACKSTOCK: Well, first, thank you so much for having me. And no, and I agree. I think that as we've been learning more about these variants and we've seen them spread to further extent, definitely the situation seems a little bit more grim. But what I would say, just to put everything in context, that this means that we really have to double down on our public health measures. We're at this point where we don't have enough vaccine supply. And then the variants are on the horizon. And by March, the 117 variant is supposed to be the predominant type.
And so we're in this really difficult place right now, but then we have cases going down. And so what I would say to people is, yes, we should be humbled by these variants, but know that public health measures prevent their spread, and that we have to really get organized on creating that robust vaccine delivery infrastructure, so we can get shots into as many arms as possible. But I will say that the next one to two months are going to be pretty difficult and challenging months for us.
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KRISTIN MYERS: How would you more broadly describe the pandemic right now? Because it seems a little bit like hypocrisy-- not-- well, I shouldn't say hypocrisy. But it seems a little bit strange, right? That we continue to hear that these mutations are out there, that they might be more contagious. But as you mentioned, we do have the case counts coming down, the hospitalizations coming down. So I guess, which is it? Where are we right now in this pandemic? Are we rounding this corner? Or are we not?
UCHE BLACKSTOCK: You know, I think that we could be rounding the corner. And the fact is, is that what we've seen is many of the restrictions put in place by states, they actually work. So these mask mandates, restricting large gatherings, restricting indoor dining, it actually prevents the spread of the virus. And that's why we're seeing these reductions in cases, hospitalizations, and even deaths somewhat, as well.
But I think, again, we need to be humbled by these variants because all of this hard work that we've done, not only could go to the roadside, but we also know that many states, such as my own here in New York state, we're starting to reopen a little bit more. We're starting indoor dining here in New York state again this weekend. And so my concern is that states are going to reopen too quickly. And we're going to see that case count go back up again, just in time for the variants to be the predominant strain around.
KRISTIN MYERS: So speaking about that, I'm also here in New York and Governor Cuomo saying, obviously not are we only going to allow indoor dining to happen again, they're thinking about reopening arenas, which I personally, I don't know if I want to be in an arena with thousands of other people. Is-- are calls like that bad ones to make? Do you think that we are not quite there yet to be making those measures?
UCHE BLACKSTOCK: I would say that we should halt on any big decisions in reopening until there is enough-- not only enough vaccine supply, but that we have a critical mass of New Yorkers, Americans being vaccinated. This idea of opening up stadiums or indoor arenas, which really are probably the most dangerous places because we have people yelling, shouting, screaming, sitting closely together and indoors with we don't know what the ventilation status is, it could actually be potentially very dangerous.
So, again, I think that this reopening is happening too soon, especially given the fact that we don't have enough vaccines. And we have the variants on the way.
KRISTIN MYERS: I have about a minute left with you here, doctor. I want to ask you about a move that Massachusetts is taking, which is that if you accompany an elderly person to their vaccination, that you yourself can also receive the vaccine. I'm wondering if that's a-- if you have someone, for example, who's immunocompromised in your house, if they're eligible for a vaccine, if we should start maybe perhaps vaccinating entire households.
UCHE BLACKSTOCK: You know, I think that it actually is a decent idea. I think that it will help encourage more elderly people, who may be shut in, to come in for their vaccinations, especially to have someone who is either a loved one or well known to them.
So I think we could actually see more elderly being vaccinated. And it's very likely that they'll have other people who are higher risk or in some of the other priority groups. And they'll be allowed to be vaccinated as well. So I don't think this is a bad idea. And I think it'll help encourage us to help get more elderly people out there because we know accessibility is definitely an issue.
KRISTIN MYERS: All right, Dr. Uche Blackstock, CEO of Advancing Health Equity and Yahoo News medical contributor, thank you so much for giving us your insights, as always.
- Sector By Sector In The S&P 500 With ETFs
Feb 9, 2021
This article is part of a regular series of thought leadership pieces from some of the more influential ETF strategists in the money management industry. Today's article is by Craig Israelsen, Ph.D., creator of the 7Twelve portfolio, consultant to 7Twelve Advisors, LLC and executive-in-residence in the Financial Planning Program at Utah Valley University.
The S&P 500 Index comprises 11 nonequally weighted sectors as shown in the table below. As of Dec. 31, 2020, the most heavily weighted sector (by far) was information technology, at 27.6%. Next was health care, at 13.5%. The smallest weighting was in energy, at 2.3%. Also included in the table are ETFs at Vanguard and State Street that attempt to more or less replicate the performance of each sector.
Sector Allocations in the S&P 500 Index
As of 12/31/2020
S&P 500 Index Sectors Current Sector Weight Vanguard Sector ETF SPDR Sector ETF Information Technology 27.6% VGT XLK Health Care 13.5% VHT XLV Consumer Discretionary 12.7% VCR XLY Communication Services 10.8% VOX XLC Financials 10.4% VFH XLF Industrials 8.4% VIS XLI Consumer Staples 6.5% VDC XLP Utilities 2.8% VPU XLU Materials 2.6% VAW XLB Real Estate 2.4% VNQ XLRE Energy 2.3% VDE XLE TOTAL NUMBER OF HOLDINGS in the 11 Sector ETFs
(as of 12/31/2020) 2,561 518
The 73 individual stocks in the S&P information technology sector determine 27.6% of the return of the S&P 500 Index. Said differently, 14.5% of the 505 stocks in the S&P 500 Index determine nearly 28% of the performance.
Clearly, the performance of companies in the sectors of information technology, health care, consumer discretionary and communication services exert a much greater impact on the performance of the S&P 500 Index than companies in the utilities, real estate, materials and energy sectors. This is a natural result of building an index that is market capitalization weighted.
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The Vanguard sector ETFs track MSCI sector indexes, while the SPDR sector ETFs track S&P sector indexes. The total number of holdings in the 11 Vanguard sector ETFs was over 2,560 as of Dec. 31, 2020, whereas the 11 SPDR sector ETFs had a total of 518 holdings. Thus, the SPDR sector ETFs are generally closer to replicating the actual S&P 500 Index in terms of total number of holdings.
The challenge in using the SPDR sector ETFs in this analysis is that two of them (XLC and XLRE) were not in existence over the full 16-year period from 2005-2020. Thus, I’ll focus on the Vanguard sector ETFs, because all 11 of them have a performance history back to 2005.
It’s worth noting that, despite the difference in total number of holdings, the performance of the 11 Vanguard sector ETFs and the 11 SPDR sector ETFs were relatively similar in 2020, as shown below. The one exception is in the consumer discretionary sector. VCR had a return of 48.22%, whereas XLY had a return of 29.66%.
S&P 500 Index Sectors Vanguard Sector ETF 2020 Return SPDR
Sector ETF 2020 Return Information Technology VGT 45.94 XLK 43.67 Health Care VHT 18.21 XLV 13.33 Consumer Discretionary VCR 48.22 XLY 29.66 Communication Services VOX 28.95 XLC 26.85 Financials VFH -2.10 XLF -1.68 Industrials VIS 12.29 XLI 11 Consumer Staples VDC 10.92 XLP 10.19 Utilities VPU -0.84 XLU 0.52 Materials VAW 19.41 XLB 20.46 Real Estate VNQ -4.72 XLRE -2.15 Energy VDE -33.04 XLE -32.56
Drilling Down
Let’s now take a look at the performance differences among the various sectors over the past 16 years (using the performance of the Vanguard sector ETFs).
As shown in the table below, the best-performing sector over the past 16 years (Jan. 1, 2005 to Dec. 31, 2020) was information technology (symbol VGT), with a 16-year average annualized return of 14.45%. (These 11 Vanguard sector ETFs all began in 2004, but the first full year of performance was 2005.) For comparison, the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLK) had a 16-year average annualized return of 13.63%.
Annual Returns of S&P 500 Sectors from 2005-2020
3 Best-Performing Sectors Highlighted in Gold Annual Returns of S&P 500 Sectors from 2005-2020
(For a larger view, click on the image above)
The next best performer was the Consumer Discretionary ETF (VCR), at 11.99%. At the top of the table is the performance of the S&P 500 Index as represented by Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO). Its 16-year return was 9.51%.
The annual returns of the Vanguard 500 Index Fund (VFINX) were used for the years 2005-2010. because the first full year of performance for VOO was 2011. VOO and VFINX have identical portfolios inasmuch as they both track the S&P 500 Index.
The gold highlighting in the table indicates the three best-performing sectors each year. In the far-right column, the three best-performing sectors over the past 16 years are highlighted.
S&P 500 Exposure: 1 Or 11 Tickers?
It is certainly convenient to invest in the S&P 500 by using one ticker (an ETF or mutual fund that mimics the index). However, the performance of that one ticker represents the aggregate return of all 11 sectors. It is not possible to withdraw money from the best-performing components (sectors) of the index. To do that, you would need to invest in each sector separately, which is easily done by the use of sector ETFs.
As shown in the table above, the advantage of building your own S&P 500 exposure by using sector funds is that you can withdraw money from the best-performing sector(s) at the end of each year (if withdrawals are needed).
For example, in 2005, had you invested in the S&P 500 as a whole (such as with VFINX or another S&P 500 Index fund), your return was 4.77%. If you needed to make a withdrawal, it would have been a withdrawal based on the fund’s return of 4.77%.
Alternatively, had you invested in all 11 sector ETFs, your withdrawal could have been made from the three best-performing ETFs. In 2005, the best-performing sectors were energy, with a return of 39.05%; utilities, with a return of 14.75%; and real estate, with a return of 12.00%.
Using a sector approach, you have 11 buckets from which to withdraw money rather than just one. After each year is over, and the performance of all the sectors is known, we would naturally withdraw money from the buckets that had the highest returns. The number of “buckets” from which you would withdraw money each year is up to each individual.
As always, it’s your call.
Contact Craig Israelsen at craig@7TwelvePortfolio.com
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- On-demand-dental company Medbar pivots model to become COVID-19 medical service
Feb 3, 2021
Yahoo Finance’s Alexis Christoforous and Eva Sadej, Medbar founder and CEO, discuss how her business pivoted amid the pandemic.
Video Transcript
ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: Dentistry startup FlossBar saw business dry up after it had to shut down its mobile dentistry operations during COVID. But that did not stop its founder and CEO, Eva Sadej, from pivoting the business and creating MedBar, which offers mobile COVID-19 testing services to its clients. Joining me now is Eva, and it's so good to see you. Thanks for being here. So tell us how MedBar works.
EVA SADEJ: Sure. So, thank you, everyone. Good afternoon. So how MedBar works is we're really a preventative care business. So we're trying to solve the problem of Americans not getting enough access to preventative care. There's a huge difference between supply available, people available, and actually care getting to the customer. So, what we do is bring it. We bring it to the employers. We bring it to the local community and pop up the methods.
And so, when it starts with dental, dental is just another one of those. And so, when you think about what are we, we're a preventative services brand. You've got people, things, technology, and compliance to get it done. The pivot was natural to the continuation of our business, and frankly, the saving of our business, as we had zero revenue when the pandemic hit. So it was a monumental effort.
ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: So you have about 200 clients. Can you give us an idea of what the response has been like from them? And are these all corporations? Or are you doing these kinds of things-- and I'm thinking it would be a natural in places like schools and government offices as well.
EVA SADEJ: So it's corporations predominantly, but we do have a community program. And so, the corporations industrials have been hit very hard by this. We've seen about 60% COVID positive rates in some of the areas like Texas. So they've taken a bigger role. But also communities have been hit. So we implemented a program where we enable local dental offices and local pharmacies, your mom and pops, to compete better with the larger chains, who had been getting COVID tests first.
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And so, we applied. We got a pathologist to oversee the program. We cut through all the red tape to enable those as well. So it's your, basically, hub and spoke system, going out to employers and having their employees come into the community, and not have to wait online, blocks deep outside urgent cares.
ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: Can you give us an idea of who some of those corporate clients are?
EVA SADEJ: Sure, I can't list names because I don't want to tell everyone's COVID problems on the news, but a lot of industrials. And frankly, it ranges from industrial to, actually, luxury brands. Luxury brands want to bring their customers back. They're doing quite well these days. So it's been an interesting mix. We've been on factory floors. We've been next to diamond watches. We've been in the fish freezer. And so, it's really everybody looking to get these tests and everyone looking to get the vaccines.
ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: Right, so would you be part of that as well? Are you going to be issuing the vaccines as part of your services?
EVA SADEJ: Oh, 100%. We're getting phone calls tremendously because they saw us do the testing and be a first mover on that. And so, being a first mover on vaccination for corporates is important to us. Because they're all calling. They all need help.
ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: So what happens now with MedBar post the pandemic? I mean, it's going to be a while until these services perhaps might not be as prevalent as they are now, but do you see this as another vertical within the business?
EVA SADEJ: Oh, completely. I mean, we entered the market in dental, but fundamentally, we're a tech-enabled healthcare logistics company. So what's the dance we do on site? We've got nurses, doctors chiropractors, technicians. And so, that diversifies into biometrics programs, hearing programs, vision programs, annual physicals, telehealth. We've really spin up a healthcare arm in record speed because we needed to, and we wanted to in two years. But we definitely got a kick with the COVID pandemic.
ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: What about FlossBar? I know that Colgate is one of the backers there. What are plans for FlossBar? And have you been able to get back to business to any extent with that mobile dentistry business?
EVA SADEJ: Oh, a little bit. Some of our clients are essential employers. So they've had clients-- I mean, patients on site the whole time through the pandemic. So that kept going. We're still doing dentistry. But in terms of any new business or continuation of contracts, it's been difficult. And so, we are unleashing services to kickstart dental, such as free rapid COVID tests with any dental appointment. Because then you're getting a combination. That idea of bundling to get back to the core business line is going to be our strategy.
ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: Can you give us an idea of how much these services cost? I mean, can a company just do this with you as a one-off? Do they have to have some sort of a commitment with you that you're going to come back and do these kinds of services for a specific amount of time?
EVA SADEJ: We expect vast price competition to happen as supply floods the market of COVID tests. And so, we started pricing at about $175 a test, and we're down to $95 a test. And so it's about doing a high volume account. In our local headquarters area, we'll do under 50 people.
But in places where we are going to fly people, because they're having an outbreak, we do slightly larger clients. And people who have a mix of signing up for recurring, say, Monday morning screening type services, and then those one-offs, like come help me now. And if they're not planful, then the one help-me-now becomes one help-me-again, and then evolves into a recurring ad hoc versus a program.
So we try to get employers to understand, if somebody doesn't get COVID, great, they can get it tomorrow. And it'll be there for seven days. You won't catch it again. So we're trying to help that understanding of the recurrent need for testing and testing once you've got the vaccine. You're not automatically 100% immune when you have your first dose. So those parallel programs to keep people safe are very important.
ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: Yeah, I have to think testing is going to be a part of our everyday lives for quite some time. Eva Sadej, MedBar founder and CEO, thanks for sharing your story with us.
EVA SADEJ: Thanks for having me. Take care.
