Is Sunshine Heart a buyout target?

Sunshine Heart ($SSH) has had quite a year, notching regulatory wins and product milestones well ahead of its internal schedule, and all that success makes it an attractive potential purchase, according to a report.

As Seeking Alpha points out, Sunshine has blazed a speedy trail with its C-Pulse Heart Assist System, an implantable device that never makes contact with blood. After going public in August, Sunshine snagged conditional FDA approval for the tech and now has the agency's blessing to kick off a 388-patient pivotal trial.

If C-Pulse gets approved, analysts have pegged the market for the device at about $2.5 billion, according to Seeking Alpha, a tantalizing prospect for devicemakers like St. Jude Medical ($STJ) and HeartWare ($HTWR), who have posted some mixed results in the cardiac world.

So, Sunshine is clearly an attractive target, but that leaves one question: Is it smarter to buy now and handle the pivotal trial yourself, or wait until the company is at the FDA's doorstep with positive results? Seeking Alpha says the early bird is wisest, as waiting too long could allow another buyer to sneak in, and positive trial results could drive Sunshine's price tag well north of what it would be today.

Analysts figure the company could go for between $20 and $26 per share, putting the total price in the $200 million range. Of course, that could skyrocket once more data on C-Pulse comes out, so it wouldn't be a shock to see the likes of St. Jude and Medtronic ($MDT) act fast, the story says.

- read Seeking Alpha's writeup

Special Report: Top M&A targets in devices and diagnostics