Barclays maintains an 'Overweight' on Laboratory Corporation of America (LH); September Quarter Review
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Price: $336.34 +1.06%
Rating Summary:
22 Buy, 14 Hold, 0 Sell
Rating Trend: = Flat
Today's Overall Ratings:
Up: 8 | Down: 5 | New: 26
Rating Summary:
22 Buy, 14 Hold, 0 Sell
Rating Trend: = Flat
Today's Overall Ratings:
Up: 8 | Down: 5 | New: 26
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Barclays maintains an 'Overweight' on Laboratory Corporation of America (NYSE: LH) price target of $115.00.
Barclays analyst says, "LH reported slightly better-than-expected results with EPS of $1.61, versus our $1.59 estimate. In a nutshell, we were very pleased with LH's results with the company reporting 2.1% volume growth, despite the difficult macro backdrop, while increasing guidance to $6.28-$6.33 from $6.17-$6.32. Specifically, LH reported better-than-expected revenue growth at 10%, with volumes in-line with our estimate at 2.1% and stronger-than-anticipated pricing trends at 7.8%. On the call, LH disclosed that organic volume growth was 1.2%. At the same time, we suggest that acquisitions of Genzyme Genetics continues to be a success and was a likely contributor to the revenue upside in the quarter. However, EBITDA was slightly below our estimate at $323.2 million with margins coming in at 23.0%, versus our 23.5% estimate. Nonetheless, cashflow was strong, and the company repurchased 1.8 million shares for $152 million. Finally, as noted above, LH raised its guidance to $6.28-$6.33 from $6.17-$6.32. We note that there had been a lot of market concern going into the release, due to the macro environment, so we suggest the upward revision in guidance helped to alleviate the concerns. With the quarter, we are updating our 2011 EPS estimate to $6.28 (up from $6.27) and maintaining our 2012 EPS estimate of $7.20."
For more ratings news on Laboratory Corporation of America click here and for the rating history of Laboratory Corporation of America click here.
Shares of Laboratory Corporation of America closed at $83.07 yesterday.
Barclays analyst says, "LH reported slightly better-than-expected results with EPS of $1.61, versus our $1.59 estimate. In a nutshell, we were very pleased with LH's results with the company reporting 2.1% volume growth, despite the difficult macro backdrop, while increasing guidance to $6.28-$6.33 from $6.17-$6.32. Specifically, LH reported better-than-expected revenue growth at 10%, with volumes in-line with our estimate at 2.1% and stronger-than-anticipated pricing trends at 7.8%. On the call, LH disclosed that organic volume growth was 1.2%. At the same time, we suggest that acquisitions of Genzyme Genetics continues to be a success and was a likely contributor to the revenue upside in the quarter. However, EBITDA was slightly below our estimate at $323.2 million with margins coming in at 23.0%, versus our 23.5% estimate. Nonetheless, cashflow was strong, and the company repurchased 1.8 million shares for $152 million. Finally, as noted above, LH raised its guidance to $6.28-$6.33 from $6.17-$6.32. We note that there had been a lot of market concern going into the release, due to the macro environment, so we suggest the upward revision in guidance helped to alleviate the concerns. With the quarter, we are updating our 2011 EPS estimate to $6.28 (up from $6.27) and maintaining our 2012 EPS estimate of $7.20."
For more ratings news on Laboratory Corporation of America click here and for the rating history of Laboratory Corporation of America click here.
Shares of Laboratory Corporation of America closed at $83.07 yesterday.
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