Symbion’s strategy
Posted on November 13, 2009 at 2:36 pmThe 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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LifePoint explains admissions slump
Posted on November 9, 2009 at 1:29 pmLifePoint Hospitals CEO William Carpenter said on a conference call Friday that the hospital company’s 3.7 percent drop in third-quarter admissions was largely the result of a switch from short-stay admissions to observation visits. “We remain confident we’re not losing market share but are capturing the same patient on an outpatient basis,” he said.
Investors seem to be OK with that explanation: LifePoint shares (Ticker: LPNT) are up about 2.5 percent today and have risen more than 5 percent since their Friday morning low. Year to date, they’ve gained 30 percent.
Noranda buys back more debt
Posted on November 6, 2009 at 2:11 pmThird-quarter losses at Franklin-based Noranda Aluminum hit the middle of its previously projected range, coming in at $4.3 million. The company also bought back more than $80 million in debt during the quarter, pushing its year-to-date total in that deparment to almost $300 million.
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NHC beats estimates
Posted on at 7:55 am
Ho-hum. Another solid quarter from National HealthCare Corp., where third-quarter profits per diluted share of 74 cents handily topped analysts’ expectations. Patient days were flat, pricing was up a bit and operating profits grew almost 12 percent and a 5 percent rise in revenue.
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If you wanted to nitpick HCA’s numbers…
Posted on November 5, 2009 at 1:33 pmSheryl Skolnick at Pali Research is impressed by the growth in cash flow and admissions at HCA. But she’s not thrilled about bad debt or the expense item that accounts for 42 percent of the hospital giant’s operating costs.
The increase in bad debt is one thing. More troubling than that was the higher than expected labor costs as a percent of revenue: HCA appears to have lost some leverage here.
SEE ALSO: HCA volume growth best since ‘02
CBL’s progress and stability
Posted on November 4, 2009 at 7:57 amThe boss of Chattanooga-based mall operator CBL — which runs three of the Nashville area’s largest shopping hubs — says he’s encouraged by “improving trends.” Occupancy rates rose by at least one percentage point in every one of the company’s categories, but shoppers appear to be giving smaller operators an especially hard time: Same-store sales for tenants occupying less than 10,000 square feet fell more than 6 percent from a year ago.
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Another sign the Southeast consumer is hurtin’
Posted on November 2, 2009 at 12:22 pm
Grocery chain Publix, which runs 1,000 stores around the region, earned $255 million during the third quarter, up from $202 million a year ago. But same-store sales fell 4.7 percent versus a drop of ‘just’ 2.7 percent in the first half of this year.
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NHI profits rise 10%
Posted on at 9:24 amThird-quarter earnings at National Health Investors rose almost 10 percent from a year ago, when they included $2.5 million in gains from discontinued operations. Stripping out that figure lifts the Murfreesboro company’s growth rate to 30 percent. Funds from operations rose 10.2 percent from a year ago. NHI shares (Ticker: NHI) are up about 10 percent in 2009.
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Check the charts, yo
Posted on at 8:57 am
Mutual fund manager Michael Kahn says stocks are due “for a real correction” now that the momentum from positive earnings reports has petered out.
Breakdowns are also evident in managed-care stocks, steel, clothing, retail, semiconductors, homebuilders, gaming and many others. The selling is affecting all major areas of the market and not just a select few.
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O’Charley’s walks the fine value line
Posted on October 29, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Jeff Warne, the CEO of O’Charley’s, this morning told investors and analysts that, in trying to drive traffic to his restaurants, his crew isn’t interested in deeply discounting the meals it offers now. Doing that instead of coming up with new offerings, he said, is simply “transferring value to the guest somewhat at the expense of the shareholder.”
“We’re trying to find the right balance between profitability and driving guests. It’s clear that value is the dominant message and we’re trying to do it in a profitable way.”
On what was otherwise a rather tame call – as is often the case when expectations are met – one moment of suspense came from Morgan Keegan analyst Robert Derrington, who pressed CFO Larry Hyatt on why the company wasn’t raising guidance for the full year when it beat its own third-quarter estimate. In keeping guidance flat, Derrington wondered, was the company implying that business is going to get worse?
Not quite, said Hyatt. But the consumer spending picture is very murky and the fourth quarter is generally on the slow side, so sticking your neck out on guidance just doesn’t make sense, especially when operating costs are pretty much fixed at this point.
“The fundamental question is sales. We don’t have any more visibility into fourth-quarter sales than we suspect anyone else does.”
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A tale of two trends for GreenBank
Posted on October 26, 2009 at 10:40 amThe parent company of the Nashville MSA’s No. 10 deposit holder lost $7.7 million in the third quarter but saw a few key credit-quality indicators improve slightly. That has its shares (Ticker: GRNB) up about 10 percent this morning.
In Middle Tennessee (which included areas outside the Nashville area), the bank continued to shrink its loan portfolio – which is now down 9 percent this year – but saw deposits rise by almost $120 million during the quarter.
UPDATE: Howe Barnes analyst Mark Muth says that, despite the drop in nonperforming assets, “it’s too early to declare victory given the depths of GRNB’s credit issues… At some point, deep value investors may be inclined to build positions in the shares, though we believe it is still early for that call.”
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A nice way to end the week
Posted on October 23, 2009 at 3:53 pmFollowing an upbeat earnings report, Healthways shares (Ticker: HWAY) rose 14 percent on Friday to their highest level in 13 months.
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Regions to trim branch network
Posted on October 21, 2009 at 7:08 amMiddle Tennessee’s largest bank will close 121 of its 1,900 offices across the Southeast to cut costs after it announced a larger-than-expected loss third-quarter loss Tuesday. Jim Schmitz, the bank’s local leader, tells Naomi Snyder Nashville will account for six of those closings.
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Young Franklin bank ekes out a profit
Posted on October 20, 2009 at 2:07 pmThe cooling mortgage refinance market took the wind out of Franklin Synergy Bank’s asset growth and earnings in the summer. The two-year-old bank has been in the black for all of 2009, but only just made a profit in the third quarter. Assets during the period grew just $2 million to $237 million.
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Liquid? Yes. In demand? No.
Posted on at 9:38 amCat Financial’s third-quarter results show little sign that global demand for construction equipment is returning. New financings came in at $1.8 billion, down 59 percent from a year ago. Still, the bigger picture at the mothership is looking better and the company’s shares (Ticker: CAT) are up nicely.
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