Accretive Health Beats on the Top Line

Seth Jayson, The Motley Fool
Updated

Accretive Health (NYS: AH) reported earnings yesterday. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended March 31 (Q1), Accretive Health beat expectations on revenues and met expectations on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue increased significantly and GAAP earnings per share grew.


Gross margins dropped, operating margins increased, and net margins increased.

Revenue details
Accretive Health reported revenue of $253.7 million. The eight analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ wanted to see a top line of $231.8 million on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 55% higher than the prior-year quarter's $163.7 million.

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Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

EPS details
EPS came in at $0.06. The eight earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ predicted $0.06 per share. GAAP EPS of $0.01 for Q1 were much higher than the prior-year quarter's $0.00 per share.

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Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

Margin details
For the quarter, gross margin was 17.6%, 330 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 0.9%, 70 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 0.6%, 50 basis points better than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $236.4 million. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.10.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $989.1 million. The average EPS estimate is $0.44.

Investor sentiment
The stock has a two-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 28 members rating the stock outperform and seven members rating it underperform. Among five CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), three give Accretive Health a green thumbs-up, and two give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on Accretive Health is hold, with an average price target of $28.00.

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At the time thisarticle was published Seth Jayson had no position in any company mentioned here at the time of publication. You can view his stock holdings here. He is co-advisor ofMotley Fool Hidden Gems, which provides new small-cap ideas every month, backed by a real-money portfolio. 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 Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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