Analyst Bret Jones upgraded the stock to "Hold" from "Sell," saying Emdeon's results and its guidance for 2010 should be better than Wall Street is expecting. Jones expects a fourth-quarter profit of 22 cents per share.
According to Thomson Reuters, analysts expect Emdeon to report a profit of 18 cents per share in the fourth quarter, with $239.6 million in revenue. For 2010 they are expecting 90 cents per share and $1 billion in revenue on average.
Jones said he expects the company's primary business to get weaker through 2011, but he said he is less pessimistic than other analysts.
He thinks Emdeon shares will stay around their current price of $15.25. In morning trading, the shares rose 28 cents to $15.53.
The Nashville, Tenn., company is scheduled to make its fourth-quarter report on Feb. 8. Emdeon completed its initial public offering in August. Its shares have traded between $14.27 and $18.25 since then.
(This version CORRECTS that analyst did make estimate for fourth quarter)
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