AMED - Amedisys downgraded at Raymond James on second guidance cut for the year

• Amedisys, Inc. ( NASDAQ: AMED ) crashed 12% after reporting lower-than-expected financials for 2022 Q3, and Ramond James downgraded it to Market Perform from Outperform, arguing that the healthcare services company lowered its EBITDA outlook for the second time this year.
• The analysts led by John Ransom argue that the company’s quarterly miss was primarily driven by home health results, where revenue remained flat during the period at $337.2M compared to ~1% YoY growth in the Hospice segment, which brought $198.7M revenue.
• Noting that the shift in product mix towards low margin per visit reimbursement in the fast-growing Medicare Advantage market is a headwind, the team argues that segment of the business “is now essentially unprofitable,” with per visit cost expected to rise.
• With AMED trading at ~15x of the revised 2022 EBITDA outlook, “shares look pricey, especially given that we believe that the outlook at best is mixed,” the analysts added.
• Wall Street has remained bullish on Amedisys ( AMED ) stock, with an average rating of Buy from analysts. However, Seeking Alpha Authors and our quant system, which consistently beats the market , rated AMED as a Hold.

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