Allscripts… Just When You Thought It Was Safe (MDRX)

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By Douglas A. McIntyre Published
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Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ:MDRX) is trading at a new 52-week low after a disaster earnings report this afternoon.  Non-GAAP adjusted earnings for the quarter ended September 30, were $6.7 million, or $0.11 per diluted share, quarterly revenues were $73.4 million, and gross margin percentage was 50.1%.  Unfortunately, First Call had estimates at $0.15 EPS and $77.6 million in revenues.

Allscripts updated 2007 targets of Non-GAAP adjusted earnings per diluted share outlook to a range of $0.48 to $0.49 and revenue to a range of $286 million to $288 million, but First Call had estimates at $0.58 EPS and $298.9 million in revenues.

Its new 2008 targets are for annualized growth in Non-GAAP EPS is expected to be 40% to 45%, which is an interpolated $0.679 to $0.703.  First Call has estimates at $0.79.  Its 2008 forecast for revenue is 20% to 25% growth, which at the mid-points generates a target of $344.4 million to $358.75 million.  Unfortunately First Call has estimates at $375.6 million.

Sometimes being a growth stock in healthcare isn’t quite what investors think.  Shares closed down over 2% today at $23.00, and the 52-week trading range was $22.21 to $31.38.  But shares in after-hours have lost almost 1/4 of their value and trading at a new 52-week low of $17.40.  Ouch.

The company provides clinical software and connectivity/IT solutions for doctors: Software and Related Services, Information Services, and Prepackaged Medications.  It sure sounds like some of the salespeople aren’t hitting their targets.  Or maybe their IT solutions just aren’t up to task.

Why does it feel like the company will need to seek to become part of a larger company to please shareholders after this trainwreck?

Jon C. Ogg
November 8, 2007

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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

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