For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL - June 8, 2009 - Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Research in Motion (RIMM), Healthsouth (HLS), J. C. Penney (JCP), Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (POT) and Weatherford (WFT).

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Here are highlights from Friday's Analyst Blog:

Big, Positive Surprise in Jobs Data

It's important to realize that though first-quarter earnings were better-than-feared and stocks have rallied since early March, full-year corporate earnings projections haven't moved very much. Though we are seeing the earnings estimate revisions ratio (total positive revisions divided

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May Job Loss Shockingly Much Lower Than ForecastJust 345,000 jobs were lost last month, the smallest decline since last September. The unemployment rate, however, rose to 9.4% -- its highest level since August 1983.The nonfarm payrolls number is shocking. The drop was less than even the most optimistic forecasts had predicted. A smaller-than-expected drop in construction and temporary jobs appears to have played the biggest role in keeping the losses from being worse.Adding to the surprise was an improvement in April's job losses. The Labor Department now says 504,000 jobs were cut in April, versus the original estimate of 539,000 losses.Though the positive surprise in nonfarm payrolls is very welcome, it is important to realize that the economy continues to contract. A smaller number of job losses still means that more people were laid off than were hired. Furthermore, the rising ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL - May 14, 2009 - Zacks.com releases the latest Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks featured in this week's analysis include Healthsouth (HLS), Almost Family (AFAM), AmSurg (AMSG), DaVita (DVA), Emergency Medical Services (EMS), Genoptix (GXDX) and LHC Group (LHCG).

Zacks Industry Rank Analysis is written by Charles Rotblut, CFA, Senior Market Analyst for Zacks.com.

This Week: Good Numbers for Health Care Providers

Given all of the headlines on health care reform and now Medicare's looming fiscal crisis, it has been all too easy to overlook some of the positive news that has been coming out of the health care sector.

This is a shame, because several companies in Medical-Outpatient-Home Care delivered good first-quarter results. Though this news may have flown under your radar, brokerage analysts

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Highlighted stocks include Healthsouth (

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RehabCare Group, Inc. (RHB), a leading provider of rehabilitation program management services, gained more than 13% today on the back of a strong first-quarter performance.

< ?DART(15);?> This is the second straight day that we're visiting the Medical - Outpatient/Home Care industry. Yesterday, HealthSouth (HLS) was featured as the top performer. There are 4 companies from this industry on today's Zacks #1 Rank List, which includes 224 stocks. The other 2 companies on the list, besides RHB and HLS, are Genoptix, Inc. (GXDX) and Odyssey Healthcare (ODSY).

RHB earned 48 cents per share in its first quarter, which continued a solid streak of meeting or beating Wall Street's quarterly estimates. Analysts were expecting this Zacks #1 Rank Top Performer to report 31 cents in the quarter, marking a surprise of more than 50%. The past 4 quarters have accounted for an

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HealthSouth Corporation (HLS) is up approximately 14% a day after the provider of inpatient rehabilitative healthcare services announced first-quarter results that included year-over-year gains in profit and revenue.

< ?DART(15);?> "The strategy we put in place in 2007 - focusing on deleveraging, growth, and expense management - yielded solid results in 2008 and continued to generate solid results in the first quarter of 2009," stated President and CEO Jay Grinney.

Adjusted EPS from continuing operations was 39 cents, compared to the consensus of 21 cents. This marks the fourth straight quarter in which HLS easily beat Wall Street expectations. The result also trounced the year-ago result.

Revenues increased 2.3% to $475.1 million, versus last year's $464.2 million. The increase was attributed to a 5.7% quarter-over-quarter increase in patient discharges offset by lower pricing.

A highlight of the quarter was HLS' ability to pay

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Highlighted stocks include Gentiva Health Services Inc. (GTIV) and HealthSouth (HLS).MedPac Releases Report on Medicare Payment PolicyEach March, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPac) reviews and makes recommendations for Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) payment systems and the Medicare Advantage (MA) program to Congress.On Friday February 27, 2009, MedPac released its findings and recommended significant cuts to home healthcare companies, reducing payments by 5.5% in 2010. It also suggested trimming reimbursement rates for high priced medical imaging services and reforming payments for end-of-life hospice care, among other measures.The commission also echoed the Obama budget's call for reduced payments for Medicare Advantage insurance plans, which private insurers offer as an alternative to the government's traditional fee-for-service program.On a positive note, the commission deemed payments to skilled nursing facilities, long-term care hospitals and inpatient rehabilitation facility services * as adequate, and ...

The healthcare sector is not homogeneous and includes many different industries ranging from managed care organizations, healthcare facilities providers, medical device manufacturers through to biotech and traditional pharmaceutical companies. Investors in heathcare therefore should remain mindful of the different drivers and appropriate metrics associated with the various sub-sectors.

That said, and recent market volatility aside, long-term growth of the healthcare sector overall continues to be fueled by the aging of the population and decisions in Congress related to government funding. Changes to healthcare policy remain an important signpost to investing in the sector.

President-elect Obama's pledge to address the issue of universal healthcare, coupled with the recent appointment of Tom Daschle to the position of Secretary of Health and Human Services and the commencement of information gathering meetings at the regional level, suggest healthcare reform initiatives will most likely be executed sooner rather than later. Funding for the State Children's

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Hospitals Hoping for Increased Insurance Coverage The combination of a bad economy and rising unemployment is contributing to unpaid bills and operating losses at U.S hospital companies such as Tenet Healthcare (THC), which missed analyst estimates last week by 3-cents with an adjusted 6-cent per share loss and lowered its full-year and 2009 guidance for EBITDA. Tenet's allowance for doubtful accounts increased 5.8% to $163M at hospitals run by the Company for over a year. With Tenet trading at all-time lows, several insiders were buying a combined 160,000 shares on the open market last week at prices ranging from $2.49-$2.71, while the stock closed the week at $2.26 ($1.1B market cap) with a loss of about 48% in ...

Today after the bell, Performance Health Techonlogies announced that CEO Robert D. Prunetti joined the company’s sales, marketing and distribution partner, Interactive Metronome (IM), for a two-day sales conference in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. While at the conference, they demonstrated the company’s Core:Tx® rehabilitation technology to gather important feedback, which will be used to launch a marketing and sales initiative planned for the current quarter of this year.

This initiative, cleverly titled “Movement,” will use information gathered from ‘pilot trials’ at rehabilitation centers, in-service training sessions with rehab professionals, and sales presentations to improve sales techniques. Movement will also assist with developing certification courses for Core:Tx®, enhancing software design for easier use, and identifying greater opportunities for sales.

Core:Tx is a unique system that turns rehabilitation therapy into a game-like experience. The wireless system enhances patients’ recovery from neuromuscular conditions by adding an element of entertainment

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