Teladoc, American Well rise as Amazon shutters virtual healthcare service

AMERICAN WELL

25/08/2022 14:14

** Shares of Teladoc Health Inc  TDOC.N  and American Well
Corp  AMWL.N  both up ~5% before the bell as Amazon.com  AMZN.O 
plans to shut down its virtual healthcare service by end of this
year
    ** AMZN exec on Weds told staff that Amazon Care, which lets
business customers offer digital or at-home doctors' visits to
their personnel, had shortcomings despite its efforts
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N3002HQ
    ** Last month, AMZN announced $3.5 bln acquisition of
primary care provider One Medical  ONEM.O , including adding
brick-and-mortar doctor's offices for the first time
    ** Jefferies in note to clients says while latest AMZN news
may be incrementally positive for TDOC and AMWL, it has more
tempered view
    ** E-commerce giant "likely to shift its investment dollars
into ONEM’s virtual care platform, and accordingly view AMZN’s
announcement more of a pivot than a retreat," Jefferies says
    ** Stocks of other virtual care providers also gaining
premarket: Goodrx Holdings Inc  GDRX.O  up 4%, Hims & Hers
Health Inc  HIMS.N  up ~2%, while Evolent Health Inc  EVH.N 
flat

 (Lance Tupper is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed
are his own)
 ((lance.tupper@thomsonreuters.com
lance.tupper@tr.com 1-332-219-1430))