Earnings wrap: Brookdale, Gaylord, HealthSpring, LP

Group of locals follow trend, top analyst estimates

Email | Print By Geert De Lombaerde

Four of the more prominent Middle Tennessee publicly traded companies reported second-quarter earnings late Monday or first thing this morning. All of them handily beat analysts’ projections, reflecting a national trend that has seen two-thirds of public companies top forecasts with their most recent numbers.

• Nursing home operator Brookdale Senior Living posted a net loss of $10.5 million, or 10 cents per share — half the red number the street had expected. At a shade under $501 million, revenues also beat the consensus estimate, though by only 0.4 percent, and were up 4.7 percent from a year ago.

Brookdale’s operations produced a $16.8 million profit during the quarter, reversing a $4.7 million loss from last year. Cash flow from operations rose 47 percent to $113 million, but the company’s large interest costs — more than $33 million last quarter on a long-term debt load of almost $2.3 billion — means a bottom-line profits is still a ways off.

“While uncertainty remains, the market environment seems to have stabilized a bit and our level occupancy reflected that stability,” said CEO Bill Sheriff. “Our revenue per unit increased by over 5 percent, with a good contribution from our ancillary services programs.”

Shares of Brentwood-based Brookdale (Ticker: BKD) closed Monday at $11.24 and have doubled so far in 2009.

• Hotel operator Gaylord earned $10.1 million, up 18 percent from a year ago, when the company incurred the last of its pre-opening costs related to its Gaylord National resort.

Per diluted share, earnings came in at 24 cents, more than doubling what analysts had been looking for. Revenues fell 15 percent to $218 million.

Same-store cash flow from its hotels fell more than $16 million to $39.1 million. As a share of revenues, the number was 28.3 percent versus 32.5 percent a year ago. Occupancy rates fell eight points to 65.4 percent.

Chairman, President and CEO Colin Reed said his team is sticking to their 2009 forecasts, which call for same-store revenue per room to fall between 15 and 20 percent.

“We are beginning to see some signs of stabilization across our business,” Reed said.

Shares of Gaylord (Ticker: GET) will open Tuesday trading at $14.66. Year to date, they’re up about a third.

• Building products supplier Louisiana-Pacific continues to claw its way out of the housing market crater. The downtown-based company reported a loss of $29.3 million — down from more than $80 million a year ago — on sales of $266 million, which were 31 percent lower from 2008.

Per diluted share, the second-quarter loss was 28 cents, well below the 33 cents analysts had been looking for. The company’s cost controls helped produce to a $45 million increase in its cash on hand.

Along with the earnings news, CFO Curt Stevens said LP plans to file a shelf registration with the SEC “to take advantage of favorable conditions in the financial markets.“ There are no concrete plans for any offerings at this point, he added.

Shares of LP (Ticker: LPX) closed at $4.17 Monday. Year to date, they’ve more than doubled, but are still off 70 percent since the beginning of 2008.

• At insurer HealthSpring, net income fell 21 percent to $31.9 million, but per-share profits of 58 cents came in two cents above expectations. Revenue rose 20 percent to $683 million.

The company’s Medicare Advantage plans grew its membership base by 18 percent from a year ago — with Texas leading the way — while premiums per member per month rose almost 5 percent to $1,060. Those numbers helped offset a rise in the company’s medical loss ratio.

Chairman and CEO Herb Fritch lifted the top end of his 2009 earnings outlook slightly and said HealthSpring is preparing to enter “a more difficult Medicare payment environment.” Shares of HealthSpring (Ticker: HS) closed Monday trading at $13.24 and are down by a third in 2009.