Shares of Haemonetics Corporation HAE reached a new 52-week high of $129.92 on Jan 15, before closing the session marginally lower at $125.70. The stock has rallied 31.9% since its second-quarter fiscal 2021 earnings announcement on Nov 4.The company is witnessing an upward trend in its stock price, prompted by its solid performance in second-quarter fiscal 2021 despite the pandemic-led business disruptions. Potential upsides of plasma and hemostasis management franchises also boosted market sentiments. However, a stiff competitive landscape and the persistence of pandemic-led impacts on business are concerning for the company.Let's delve deeper.Encouraging Q2 PerformanceHaemonetics’ impressive performance in second-quarter fiscal 2021 buoys optimism. The company’s Hospital business was robust, along with uptick in the Hemostasis Management product line. Gross productivity improvement, cost savings from the Operational Excellence Program and cost-containment actions partially offset the contraction of gross margin, raising optimism. Strong customer end-market demand looks encouraging.Other Growth DriversPotential Upsides of Plasma Franchise: Investors are upbeat about Haemonetics’ strong growth in Plasma franchise for quite some time. The company has completed 11 million YES procedures to date, resulting in more than 250,000 incremental liters of plasma collected. Haemonetics is currently witnessing plasma market growth above historic rates, driven by an industry striving to double collections by 2025 and the rising demand for plasma-based medicines. The company continued to benefit from the NexSys device and NexLynk donor management software, backed by increased customer adoptions.Haemonetics is upbeat about the FDA’s 510(k) clearance for its NexSys PCS system with Persona technology, which it received in October.Potential in Hemostasis Management: Investors are optimistic about Hospital business’ Hemostasis Management’s strong growth over the past few quarters. The Hospital business, along with the Hemostasis Management product line witnessed an uptick in segmental revenues on an organic basis, which was driven by strong U.S. disposable sales. Further, the product line had benefited from strong capital equipment sales in the first quarter and by sales of TEG cartridges in the second quarter, which drove up the overall product line. The company is also modernizing and expanding its Plasma and TEG disposable manufacturing in Pittsburgh, PA.DownsidesCoronavirus Impacts: The persistent impacts of the pandemic weighs on Haemonetics’ business. In the last-reported quarter, Plasma revenues declined primarily due to a significant fall in North American collections compared with the prior year. Despite gradual lifting of pandemic-led stay-at-home orders, depressed collection volumes have still persisted.Competitive Landscape: Haemonetics faces substantial competition, both for manual and automated systems, which includes biggies like Medtronic plc MDT. Slower-than-expected product adoption by customers, especially the American Red Cross, might reduce the company’s revenues and profit.Zacks Rank & Key PicksCurrently, Haemonetics carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).Some other better-ranked stocks from the broader medical space are Hologic, Inc. HOLX and IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. IDXX.Hologic’s long-term earnings growth rate is estimated at 17.4%. The company presently carries a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.IDEXX’s long-term earnings growth rate is estimated at 15.8%. It currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).These Stocks Are Poised to Soar Past the PandemicThe COVID-19 outbreak has shifted consumer behavior dramatically, and a handful of high-tech companies have stepped up to keep America running. Right now, investors in these companies have a shot at serious profits. For example, Zoom jumped 108.5% in less than 4 months while most other stocks were sinking.Our research shows that 5 cutting-edge stocks could skyrocket from the exponential increase in demand for “stay at home” technologies. This could be one of the biggest buying opportunities of this decade, especially for those who get in early.See the 5 high-tech stocks now>>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Medtronic PLC (MDT): Free Stock Analysis Report Hologic, Inc. (HOLX): Free Stock Analysis Report Haemonetics Corporation (HAE): Free Stock Analysis Report IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (IDXX): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here.