A couple weeks ago, I stumbled on Healtstream Inc (HSTM). The stock was significantly going down as the quarter’s results didn’t meet the expectations Sometimes, sharp drops make great buying opportunities. It’s up by 15% since then. So, I had a look at the company’s profile.
HealthStream provides workforce software-based training solutions for healthcare organizations (71% of revenues), patient experiment survey solutions (12% of revenues) and a platform that manages medical staff credentialing.
Negative
- The revenues from the first 2 solutions (training and survey) are down; they are essentially buying growth. As the CEO said: “The second half of 2016 has been very busy with three acquisitions”.
- The cash flows are essentially coming from depreciation and amortization.
- The price/cash flow ratio is rather high, 30+ times (it’s expensive).
Positive
- They expect their operating incomes for 2017 to increase by 50% to 65% as compared to 2016 and the consolidated revenues to grow by 10%-14%.
- The company has a good balance sheet and good cash reserve.
Like Warren Buffett says: “The stock market is a no-called-strike game. You don’t have to swing at everything — you can wait for your pitch.” I don’t need to have 10 new good companies per year to get good returns. So, I’ll pass for now as I don’t see in HealthStream a great opportunity.
