Almost Family Inc. – Value – Zacks Rank Buy
Source: http://www.zacks.com/commentary/10475/Almost+Family+Inc.+-+Value+-+Zacks+Rank+BuyPosted on Wednesday, April 1st, 2009 | In Stocks to Watch
Almost Family, Inc. (AFAM), the provider of home health and personal care, has been on a roll, surprising on estimates 4 consecutive quarters by an average of 24%. Analysts expect 5-year earnings growth of 25.5%. AFAM has a PEG ratio of just 0.30.
Company Description
Almost Family provides home health nursing, rehabilitation and personal care services in 11 states. The company has two segments: Visiting Nurse (VN) and Personal Care (PC).
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Visiting Nurse provides skilled nursing and physical, occupational and speech therapy. Personal Care includes custodial and personal care services.
Fourth Quarter Revenue Jumped 84%
On Mar 4, Almost Family reported fourth quarter results that easily beat Wall Street estimates by 12.73%, or 7 cents a share. Net income was $5.2 million, or 62 cents per share, compared to $2.1 million, or 37 cents, in the year ago period.
Additionally, the weighted average shares outstanding for purposes of calculating earnings per share increased 48% between periods. Analysts expected 55 cents in the quarter.
Revenue climbed 84% to $66.2 million from $35.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2007. Both segments saw gains but it was the Visiting Nurse segment that fueled the quarter as revenue rose 108% to $55.7 million. The organic growth rate was 47%. The Personal Care segment also rose 16% in the quarter.
The company is bullish about 2009.
“Looking into 2009, we will continue to focus on the major drivers of our revenue growth: educating referral sources on how we can provide the best care for their patients and pursuing start-ups and acquisitions that increase our densification in our existing geographic clusters,” said William Yarmuth, Chief Executive Officer.
First Quarter and 2009 Consensus Estimates Rise
Analysts have been cautious about the home health sector in general in recent months on concerns about changes to medicare payments under the Obama Administration’s health care proposals. However, first quarter consensus estimates for AFAM are up 2 cents to 60 cents in the last 30 days.
Full-year 2009 consensus estimates also increased by 8 cents to $2.59 in the last month.
Value Fundamentals
Almost Family is cheap. It is trading at only 6.6x forward earnings. The company has a price-to-book of 1.58. AFAM also has an outstanding 5-year return on equity (ROE) of 17.24%.
Almost Family is a Zacks #1 Rank (strong buy) stock.
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 About Tracey Ryniec (http://www.zacks.com/)
Tracey Ryniec is an Editor at Zacks Investment Research who covers the Value Stock for the Zacks Rank Buys and Timely Buy of the Week. |
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