It is getting late and I would like to get another entry online. I do not own any shares of this company...and have not really looked at it closely before now: Coventry Health Care (CVH). This is another medical stock....scanning the lists these medical stocks and hospital groups appear to have all moved together higher today.
CVH closed today at $55.77 up $2.64 on the day, a 4.97% gain. They reported their second quarter earnings today and they looked nice: Revenues for the quarter totaled $1.1 billion a 23% increase over the second quarter of 2002. Net earnings were $63.4 million or $1.05/diluted share, a 73% (!) increase over net earnings for the second quarter of 2002. This was reported by Business Wire on NYTimes on the Web today.
According to CNNMoney, Coventry Health Care, Inc. "...is a managed health care company that provides comprehensive health benefits & services to employer- & government-funded groups in the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic & Southeastern U.S."
Morningstar.com shows that this quarter's results were NOT a fluke. Revenue has grown from $2.1 billion in 1998, $2.16 billion in 1999, $2.6 billion in 2000, $3.1 billion in 2001, $3.47 billion in 2002 and extrapolating the current quarterof $1.1 billion we would get $4.4 billion in revenue for 2003.
The company is managing this growth well as free cash flow has improved from $89 million in 2000, to $170 million in 2001, $196 million in 2002 and $234 million in the trailing twelve months.
Like the previously mentioned health care firm, this one too has a lot of debt....$297.7 million in cash with $299.4 million in other current assets. Unfortunately, Morningstar reports $844.8 million in current liabilities and $197 million in long-term liabilities. This is a bit heavy on debt but the fact that the company is growing its free cash flow suggests that they are able to manage this debt load....imho.
Yahoo.com shows a market cap of $5.13 Billion with 59 million shares outstanding at 47.8 million that float. No dividend is paid, the p/e is a reasonable (imho) 19.21. There are 1.20 million shares out short representing a bit over a day and a half of average trading volume.
Except for the debt, this is a pretty picture and an outstanding earnings report...deserving of your consideration! Regards to all of my friends and readers.
Bob