Boston, MA 04/28/2014 (wallstreetpr) – Healthways, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWAY)‘s shares jumped by nearly 13% on Friday after the company, which is a physical, emotional and social well-being solution provider, released its first quarter results that exceeded the expectations.
First Quarter Highlight
Healthways, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWAY) furnished its revenue and EPS details, wherein its revenue recorded a growth of 7% and increased to $176.8 million. At the same time, the adjusted net loss for the reported quarter decreased to $0.07 per share as against the wider loss of $0.12 a share in the same quarter previous year. The Wall Street consensus was at the estimate of $0.11 net loss per share and revenue in the range of $176.5 million. During the first quarter, the company signed 20 new contracts, where one of the contracts is associated with a Fortune 100 company. As per the company’s CEO Ben Leedle, the new contracts form the part of Healthways’ strategy to enhance its financial growth through signing in new members and extending existing contracts. The company’s guidance for the full year is reaffirmed in the range of $0.11-$0.26 per share, while it projects its revenue to be in between $730-$760 million.
Gets A Rating Boost
Followed by better-than-expected results, the company received a rating boost from the analyst Michael Petusky at Noble Financial. Petusky assigned a ‘buy’ rating to the stock from the previous ‘hold’ and set a price target of $21. The strong first quarter performance comes from the company’s solid contracts during the period. He noted that it is highly probable that the company will continue to report higher profitability in the near term. At the same time, an analyst Brooks O’Neil at Dougherty & Co. said that the company delivered well in both of its top and bottom line and reiterated the guidance for the year at the same level, which indicates the progress from Healthways, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWAY).
