Tag - Ensg

Take Two Interactive Software Inc. (Nasdaq:TTWO), Tennant Co (Nasdaq:TNC) and Integral System Inc. (Nasdaq:ISYS) are among the biggest percentage losers in Thursday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

Also included among the results: Scholastic Corp. (Nasdaq:SCHL), Citizens Holdings Co. (Nasdaq:CIZN), Ensign Group Inc. (Nasdaq:ENSG), Stone Energy Corp. (Nasdaq:SGY), MDS Inc. (Nasdaq:MDZ) and Stewardship Financial Corp. (Nasdaq:SSFN).

It’s not often that you hear “nursing home” and “industry” in the same sentence. Although the growing population of seniors in the United States would suggest that the business of caring for the aged is indeed a high-growth industry, the sector remains highly fragmented, with many independent homes operating in a state of neglect, or at far below peak efficiency.

One of the most aggressive business models for squeezing more profits out of the nation’s many poorly managed nursing homes comes from The Ensign Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:ENSG), a nine-year-old Mission Viejo, Calif. company that acquires or takes over management of underperforming facilities and restores them so that they can take in more patients, and ultimately, more profits.

Think This Old House for the assisted living crowd. Ensign operates 61 nursing care facilities in the western United States, including 26, which it owns, and 35 on which it holds long-term leases. It says some of the homes it has acquired had occupancy rates as low as 30% before it took over management. Today, it boasts an average occupancy rate of close to 80% and says its most mature facilities are operating above 90% capacity.

Those numbers alone should make a compelling case for Ensign’s long-term growth potential. The company’s past financial data show its ability to execute on its strategy. Ensign’s revenues grew to $411.3 million last year from $358.6 million in 2006 and $300.9 million in 2005. Net income has been somewhat more erratic. In 2007, when Ensign completed an initial public offering, its net income dipped to $20.5 million from $22.6 million in 2006, but above the $18.4 million earned in 2005.

Two analysts who follow Ensign project revenue growing to $463.9 million this year and $512.1 million in 2009, and estimate that net income will rise to $1.31 . . .

Small-cap stocks posted a solid gain Tuesday, erasing morning losses to climb to the highest daily close since early February. By the close, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was up 5.44, or 0.75%, at 729.79.

The impressive recovery move off morning lows generated a bullish outside reversal on daily charts, which helps offset some of the topping pattern formed by Friday’s lower close after making new move highs. It should be noted that downside action on Monday was forged on extremely light volume, which took some of the edge off the lower price action coming into today’s session.

Looking ahead to Wednesday’s session, the market still needs to establish the ability to hold above the 731 zone, which formed a double top back in early February. Clearly, sellers emerged in that area late Tuesday, pulling the index back off the highs. Above that 731 point, resistance is at 735 and 743. If the market starts to struggle, then support is at 726, 720.50 and 715.

Much of the bearish morning tone was linked to overnight losses in Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM), which tumbled 8% after investors were cool to earnings results and a downgrade in the company’s credit rating. However, Fannie Mae reversed course after a conference call with company officials, and ended up climbing more than 8%. Without that bearish impetus to stir jitters about the mortgage market, credit crunch and banking worries, the bears quickly lost favor. By late mid-morning, . . .

The Russell 2000 (NYSE: IWM) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDU) failed to hold mid-morning gains and slipped into negative territory, as investors’ concerns about weak job reports sent stocks plunging. Before the opening, the Labor Department reported that payrolls plunged a greater-than-expected 63,000 in February, heightening recession fears and causing gyrations early in the session.

The Russell 2000 shed 0.40%, or 2.67 points, to 660.11. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.22%, or 146.7 points, to 11,893.69.

Economists were forecasting an increase in payrolls of 25,000 for February. Today’s data come on the heels of a larger-than-anticipated decline in payrolls in January of 17,000.

The unemployment rate was essentially unchanged at 4.8%, compared with 4.9% in January. Economists were projecting the unemployment rate to edge up to 5%.

Average hourly earnings rose by $0.05, or 0.3%, over the month, according to the Labor Department.

The Federal Reserve’s statement this morning that it will increase the amount of loans it makes to banks failed to calm concerns and buoy the market. Specifically, the central bank augmented auctions of four-week funds to banks to $50 billion from its original $30 billion planned for March 10 and March 24. The Fed also said it will avail an additional $100 billion through repurchase agreements.

In a statement, Fed officials also stipulated that the central bank will continue auctions for at least six months, and would increase the size of such auctions further if needed.

The Russell 2000 (NYSE: IWM) and the other major U.S. indices are falling as investors listen to Ben Bernanke.

At 10:36 a.m. ET, the small-cap index had lost 10.31 points, or 1.47%, to 689.60. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDU) had declined 93.48 points, or 0.75%, to 12,372.68.

Stocks opened in the green but lost ground as investors digested the latest economic news and tuned in to hear U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testify before the House Budget Committee.

Calls for a policy response to prevent the U.S. economy from slipping into recession have been mounting and all eyes are on the Fed chief as he discusses the overall state of the economy. Many observers expect that the Fed will lower the federal funds rate, which currently stands at 4.25%, when it next meets on Jan. 29 and 30.

In economic news, the U.S. Census Bureau reported before the start of trading that housing starts fell 14% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.006 million units, below November’s downwardly revised total of 1.173 million.

An estimated 1,376,100 housing units were authorized 2007, a stunning 25.3% below the 2006 figure of 1,838,900. That’s the worst one-year decline in nearly 30 years.

The situation will not improve soon and the housing sector appears to be headed for a third year of stagnation.

That’s because building permits, a sign of future construction, fell 8.1% to an annual rate of 1.068 million units.

Economists were expecting December housing starts and building permits to post smaller declines.

In more economic news, the U.S Labor Department announced that initial jobless claims for the week ended Jan. 12 decreased 21,000 to 301,000, from the preceding week’s unrevised figure of 322,000.

The 4-week moving average, a more stable measure, fell 11,750 to 328,500, from the preceding week’s downwardly revised average of 340,250.