Paul Price

Almost Family: Well Positioned for Demographic Growth

AFAM was mentioned very favorably at today's Value Investors' Conference in NYC.

Almost Family: Well Positioned for Demographic Growth

Almost Family Inc. By: Tracey Ryniec - ZACKS
October 19, 2009

Almost Family, Inc. (AFAM - Snapshot Report) continues to quietly beat estimates and grow revenues. Third quarter estimates have risen in the last 30 days.

Almost Family provides home health nursing, rehabilitation and personal care services. It has surprised on estimates 7 quarters in a row and has beat on average of 15.42% in the last four.

On Aug 5, the company reported second quarter results which saw revenues rise 54% to $74.9 million from $48.7 million in the year ago period. The company surprised on the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 8.96% as earnings per share were 73 cents compared to the estimate of 67 cents. Almost Family reported 50 cents in the year ago period.

The Visiting Nursing segment saw 65% growth compared to the second quarter of 2008, with 29% of that coming from organic growth and the rest from acquisitions. The Personal Care segment increased 11%.

Will the company's earnings surprise streak continue in the third quarter? Almost Family is scheduled to report earnings on Nov 4. The Zacks Consensus Estimate is up 1 cent to 70 cents in the last 30 days. Analysts expect 2009 earnings growth of 30.81%.

Value Fundamentals

Almost Family is a Zacks #2 Rank (buy) stock. When I last reviewed the company in April 2009, it was trading at only 6.6x forward earnings. It is more expensive now, at 11.2x forward earnings, but still well within the value parameters.

The company has a low PEG ratio of 0.56. It also has a stellar 1-year return on equity (ROE) of 22.11%.