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CCA, LifePoint execs sell part of holdings

Posted on November 19, 2009 at 1:37 pm

Richard Seiter, chief corrections officer at Corrections Corp. of America, on Tuesday sold 4,500 shares of the company for about $113,000. Shares of CCA (Ticker: CXW) have risen about 50 percent in the past six months.

Over at LifePoint, Group President Joné Law Koford pocketed about $155,000 from the sale of almost 5,200 of her shares. Shares of the Brentwood-based hospital chain (Ticker: LPNT) are up about 14 percent since May.

Some Florida flak for CCA

Posted on November 16, 2009 at 10:29 am

A Tampa-area business coalition is calling for changes to the contract Hernando County recently renegotiated with Corrections Corp. of America — even though CCA lowered its per diem rate more than 10 percent.

CCA’s pipeline strong enough for higher price target

Posted on November 9, 2009 at 7:25 am

Avondale Partners analyst Kevin Campbell says Corrections Corp. has the financial muscle, free cash flow and market position to add nicely to its book of business in the coming years. That has led him to raise his price target for the shares (Ticker: CXW) to $30 from $24, based on a 2011 profit estimate that is 15 percent higher than his 2009 forecast.

The company estimates that its inventory and development pipeline can add $50 million in incremental EBITDA over the long-term, with the majority of the interest and D&A expense already included in expectations. We estimate that this could add more than $0.25 in EPS at the current share count. In addition it has financial flexibility in 2009 and 2010 to take advantage of the current environment through continued development, share repurchases or debt reductions.

California deal brings Oklahoma CCA jobs

Posted on November 5, 2009 at 7:24 am

Two days after announcing a big contract amendment in California, Corrections Corp. says it will grow the payroll at its North Fork prison by two-thirds. Look for a similar release soon about the 900-odd Golden State prisoners going to Arizona.

Among prison operators, CCA best long-term bet

Posted on October 19, 2009 at 7:32 am

A story in this weekend’s Barron’s puts the spotlight on private prison companies. Analyst T.C. Robillard says Corrections Corp. shares (Ticker: CXW) already have priced in a lot of the pending rebound, but are the best long-term investing proposition.

CCA’s massive inventory makes it the go-to company for federal and state customers. One worry: Because it has so many beds, investors fret that a large number could go unused. Earlier this year, 11,000 were empty, but new government contracts had trimmed the total to 6,500 by summer.

The baton passes at CCA

Posted on October 16, 2009 at 7:59 am

As of yesterday, Damon Hininger is the CEO of Corrections Corp. of America. Longtime boss John Ferguson will remain an employee — his compensation is still to be determined — and stay on the company’s board of directors and has agreed to a one-year noncompete clause that will kick in when he leaves CCA’s payroll.

CCA facing Oklahoma cuts

Posted on October 15, 2009 at 10:39 am

Oklahoma’s Department of Corrections will trim its budget by 5 percent to help the state manage a shrinking budget. Corrections Corp. of America manages more than 2,000 inmate beds in the state and, all other things being equal, would stand to lose about $2 million in annual revenues.

But Kevin Campbell at Avondale Partners says CCA and competitor GEO Group “will be able to offset these cuts with changes in the scope of services provided or increased inmates.” Shares of the Nashville company (Ticker: CXW) are down about 0.6 percent this morning.

CCA settles with EEOC

Posted on October 14, 2009 at 12:18 pm

From the AP:

The operators of a Colorado private prison have agreed to pay $1.3 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that male officers forced female workers to perform sexual acts to keep their jobs.

The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced the settlement with the Dominion Correctional Services LLC and Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections Corporation of America on Tuesday.

CCA goes grassroots in Georgia

Posted on at 8:01 am

Representatives of Corrections Corp. of America helped residents of Jenkins County, Ga., lobby for the Nashville company, one of a number of firms in the running for a 1,000-bed prison that is seen as a crucial job generator in a high-unemployment region.

SEE ALSO: A release from CCA announcing its willingness to build in the area — in the spring of 1999.

CCA upgraded by TheStreet.com

Posted on October 8, 2009 at 12:03 pm

Investors should buy shares of Corrections Corp. of America, says the ratings model devised by TheStreet.com. CCA (Ticker: CXW) is up about 45 percent this year.

CCA laying off 120 in Minnesota

Posted on October 5, 2009 at 3:30 pm

The Nashville-based prison manager has cutting more than half of the payroll at its Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton, Minn., after losing a State of Washington contract. Earlier this year, the company (Ticker: CXW) had avoided layoffs by trimming work hours.

CCA set to grow into higher valuation

Posted on September 21, 2009 at 8:22 am

Analyst T.C. Robillard, who this summer joined Signal Hill Capital from Bank of America, has begun covering shares of Corrections Corp. of America as well as its main rivals, Geo Group and Cornell, with ‘buy’ ratings. He cites a “classic supply-demand imbalance” as the main growth drivers for the companies, but adds that investors should treat their stocks as buy-and-hold plays rather than looking for short-term catalysts.

Here are some of Robillard’s thoughts specific to CCA:

Corrections Corp., given it owns 71% of its bed supply, is able to generate significant incremental margins (up to 80%) as it fills its remaining capacity… We do not believe this is an unrealistic assumption given our supply-demand balance expectations over the next several years.

California will be the single largest risk to Corrections Corp.’s earnings stream in the coming quarters given: (1) this customer has gone from 0% to 10% of revenues within the last 6 quarters; (2) it has had, and will likely continue to have, the biggest budget gap of any state; and (3) its political environment is the most opaque in the country.

The stock should be able to push back to historical averages (18-19x forward EPS) once budget concerns subside due to the strong secular industry trends.

For now, Robillard says CCA shares (Ticker: CXW) should trade around $24. They closed at $22.62 on Friday.

Moody’s gets more positive on CCA

Posted on September 18, 2009 at 6:44 am

Moody’s Investors Service says Corrections Corp. of America has a strong enough balance sheet and outlook to allow the debt ratings firm to begin thinking about a full-fledged upgrade.

Moody’s would expect to raise CCA’s rating should total assets reach $3.5 billion and revenues approach $2 billion without marked deterioration in its credit profile. Concurrently, CCA would need to maintain its dominance in the private corrections industry, without the sector losing its share relative to public operators.

Shares of CCA (Ticker: CXW) are up about 40 percent in 2009.

CCA’s controversial Kentucky deal extended

Posted on September 15, 2009 at 7:20 am

The Kentucky Department of Corrections has extended by one year Corrections Corp. of America’s contract to house more than 400 inmates at a facility where seven cases of sexual misconduct were not reported to the appropriate officials.

Kentucky official says state should take over CCA prison

Posted on September 11, 2009 at 1:33 pm

The Kentucky Department of Corrections should take the troubled Otter Creek Correctional Center off the hands of Corrections Corp. of America, the state’s House speaker has written in a letter to a fellow lawmaker. Not surprisingly, CCA officials aren’t terribly keen on the idea.

SEE ALSO: Other recent items about Otter Creek

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