Tag - HMSY

Small-cap stocks had a relatively sleepy pullback Monday, as climbing crude oil prices and a soft dollar offset an upside surprise in economic data from the ISM Non-Manufacturing Survey. The Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) dipped 1.39, or 0.19%, to 724.35.

The ISM Non-Manufacturing Survey came in at 52%, which was well above the median forecast for 49.5%, but neither investors nor analysts seemed ready to say that an economic growth trend for the services sector was at hand. The report sparked a brief bid in equities when it was released, but it had very little staying power throughout the day and lost the spotlight as crude oil prices began climbing.

Crude oil prices soared to a fresh record high, zooming past $120 dollars a barrel for the first time. Crude prices have jumped about 9% from last week’s low, and remain a concern for the U.S. economy, consumer spending habits and sentiment heading toward the summer driving season.

Even before the crude oil surge, equities were on the defensive this morning following weekend news that Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT) had retracted a bid for Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO), dulling some of the merger and acquisition hype built up by the recent Mars/Wrigley (NYSE:WWY) deal. Investors pounded Yahoo! shares, which tumbled 15% on the news.

In addition to rising energy prices, other commodity markets were on a roll Monday, with the Commodity Research Bureau Index of a broad swath of physical goods climbing 1.4%, with copper prices soaring 3% to a record peak amid supply disruptions out of Chile and a lift from the ISM data. With crude oil prices and other . . .

Health care is becoming more of a hot-button issue (if that’s possible) as the United States gears up for the 2008 presidential election. Saving money in the midst of rising health-care costs is important not only to consumers but to other cogs in the multi-sprocketed system as well — the insurers, hospitals, pharmacists, doctors, and the federal and state governments.

Government is where HMS Holdings Corp. (Nasdaq: HMSY) enters the picture and plays a substantial penny-pinching role. Using data from 260 insurers, along with government information on eligibility and claims, HMS makes sure that the correct party is paying for the health-care services rendered.

A New York City-based company, HMS Holdings helps government entities keep costs under control by ferreting out any errors in benefit outlays. While the mistakes are relatively small, they’re bound to be buried in the programs’ paperwork.

HMS — the leader in providing such services to government health-care programs — says that in 2006, it recovered more than $1 billion for its clients and was able to provide data that helped them save several billions more. The Health Management Systems subsidiary of HMS Holdings provides services to 40 of the 50 states and counts a majority of the nation’s VA centers as its clients.

With the baby boomer generation heading toward retirement with a growing dependency on taxpayer-funded programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, it appears that the business opportunities for HMS Holdings can only get healthier in the years ahead. It’s also likely to remain recession-proof.

As a result, five analysts who follow HMS all have a “buy” or “outperform” rating on the company’s stock.

In the past year, the company has grown tremendously, thanks to the September 2006 acquisition of its prime competitor, the Benefits Solutions Practice Area (BSPA) of Public Consulting Group Inc. The cash-and-stock deal, valued at $105.6 million, increased the size of the HMS operations by approximately 70%.