Why Accretive Health Shares Popped

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of Accretive Health (NYS: AH) , a specialist in health-care-revenue-cycle management, soared 19% on Wednesday after its quarterly revenue topped Wall Street expectations.

So what: The shares were crushed last month after Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson accused the company of high-pressure tactics to collect payments from patients before treatment, but a big first-quarter revenue beat -- $253.7 million versus the consensus of $231.3 million -- is helping ease some of the concerns. While Accretive slashed its full-year outlook, Wall Street was largely expecting it after the company lost customer Fairview Health Services last month.

Now what: Management now sees 2012 adjusted EPS of $0.42-$0.50 on net services revenue of $960 million-$992 million, down from its prior view of $0.61-$0.65 and $1.09 billion-$1.12 billion, respectively. "We continue to work hard to resolve the issues with the Minnesota Attorney General," founder and CEO Mary Tolan said. "We will continue to pursue our legal defenses against charges that do not reflect the essence of what we do." While today's revenue beat is certainly a positive, the uncertainty surrounding Accretive might be too much for average investors to handle.

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At the time thisarticle was published Fool contributor Brian Pacampara owns no position in any of the companies mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days.We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Fool's disclosure policy always gets a perfect score.

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