NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--CardioNet Inc. (BEAT) has hired investment bank Lazard Ltd. (LAZ) to help evaluate its options, Chairman and Chief Executive Randy Thurman said during a conference call Tuesday, an indication that the medical-device maker would consider a sale. The company previously had hinted it would mull a sale, but the hiring of Lazard shows this talk isn't just hype, said Jefferies & Co. analyst Joshua Jennings, who confirmed details of the conference call. Shares of CardioNet were recently up 73 cents, or 14%, to $5.89 after rising as high as $6.19 earlier Tuesday. The stock was also boosted by Thurman's comments that, with the help of cost cuts, CardioNet expects to post a per-share profit in 2011. The company posted a loss in the third quarter, and analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimate it will report losses for 2009 and 2010. Jennings said he is cautious about CardioNet's guidance for earnings in 2011 because the company is still dealing with a high amount of volatility in the reimbursement rate it gets for its mobile heart-monitoring system. Also Tuesday, CardioNet said it expects 40% growth in patient volumes next year for this system, called Mobile Cardiac Outpatient Telemetry. Boenning & Scattergood Inc. analyst Greg Chodaczek said his firm is cautious about CardioNet's expectations for patient growth. "We're taking a wait-and-see attitude right now," he said. -By Jennifer Cummings, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2474; jennifer.cummings@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones NewswiresDecember 15, 2009 11:51 ET (16:51 GMT)Copyright © 2009 MarketWatch, Inc. All rights
