News - High Revenue and EPS Growth Stocks
REUTERS UPDATE 2-Express Scripts posts higher quarterly profit
CHICAGO, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Pharmacy benefits manager
Express Scripts Inc. <ESRX.O> on Wednesday posted higher
quarterly earnings, and reaffirmed its 2006 guidance.
Shares fell nearly 3 percent in after-hours trade.
Fourth-quarter net income rose to $111 million, or 75 per
share, from $81 million, or 53 cents per share, in the
year-earlier period.
Excluding items, earnings were 77 cents per share.
Analysts, on average, had expected earnings of 74 cents per
share, according to Reuters Estimates.
For 2006, the company repeated its estimate of earning
between $3.10 to $3.22 per share, including 10 cents for
expensing of stock options. It gave the same forecast in
November.
"As an earnings momentum story, people might have been
expecting better," for the 2006 forecast, John Kreger, an
analyst at William Blair, said.
Analysts, on average, forecast $3.15 per share.
Pharmacy benefit managers act as middlemen between health
plans and employers and pharmaceutical companies.
Total revenue was $4.6 billion, an 18 percent jump from the
prior period, boosted in part by an acquisition.
Shares fell after hours to $91.20 on the Inet brokerage,
after closing on Nasdaq at $93.91 on Wednesday.
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22Feb06 22:39 GMT
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