Symbion’s strategy

By Erin Lawley Posted on November 13, 2009 at 2:36 pm

The ambulatory surgery center company discussed its plans for improving its sluggish performance on today’s third-quarter conference call, after posting a Q3 loss. A new purchasing agreement should help with cost management, while a heavier focus on physician recruitment and service line development is aimed at growing same-store revenues.

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Tags: Ambulatory surgery centers, earnings reports, outpatient surgery centers, Symbion Inc.  

AmSurg’s affordable growth

By Geert De Lombaerde Posted on November 5, 2009 at 12:47 pm

SmartMoney’s Jack Hough has culled through the numbers to unearth some stocks that provide solid growth at a nice price. Among his finds is Nashville-based AmSurg, which from 2005 to 2008 grew its top line by 64 percent and its operating earnings by 57 percent. Today, its shares (Ticker: AMSG) are up about 2 percent, in line with the broader market.

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Tags: Ambulatory surgery centers, AmSurg Corp., SmartMoney, stock valuation  

AmSurg director sells block of stock

By Geert De Lombaerde Posted on September 9, 2009 at 9:27 am

Henry Herr on Friday unloaded more than $300,000 worth of shares in the surgery center operator (Ticker: AMSG) as part of an arranged trading plan.

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Tags: Ambulatory surgery centers, AmSurg Corp., Henry D. Herr, insider trades, outpatient surgery centers  

Now it’s downgraded

By Walker Duncan Posted on July 7, 2009 at 10:10 am

Ambulatory surgery center operator AmSurg, which yesterday received an upgrade to ‘Buy’ from TheStreet.com Ratings, this morning was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ by Whit Mayo from Robert W. Baird

A Robert W. Baird analyst downgraded outpatient surgery center operator AmSurg Corp. Tuesday, citing a lack of upcoming catalysts and the likelihood the stock will remain flat.

Baird analyst Whit Mayo lowered his rating to “Neutral” from “Outperform” but lowered his price target to $23 from $24, saying the share value has returned to a more reasonable level.

“Thus, outside of a re-acceleration in earnings, we see few significant catalysts and expect the stock to trade sideways,” he wrote in a note to investors.

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Tags: Ambulatory surgery centers, AmSurg Corp., Equity reasearch, Public companies, Robert W. Baird & Co., Whit Mayo  

AmSurg rated a ‘Buy’

By Walker Duncan Posted on July 6, 2009 at 11:39 am

TheStreet.com Ratings announced early this morning that it has upgraded surgery center operator AmSurg to “Buy”

The numbers: Fiscal first-quarter revenue rose 12% to $163 million as net income climbed 7.8% to $13 million and earnings per share ascended 8.1% to 40 cents, extending a growth streak to nine quarters. The cash balance is ample with $31 million of reserves. The debt-to-equity ratio is low at 0.6. The net margin is wide at 7.7% but has shed 30 basis points since last year’s first quarter.

The stock: Amsurg is down 10% in 2009, trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of about 13. The company has a market capitalization of $670 million.

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Tags: Ambulatory surgery centers, AmSurg Corp., Health Care, Public companies, TheStreet.com