Wednesday, November 12, 2003

Recently, First Health (FHCC) has been appearing on my radar screen. It's a PPO and has a retention rate of over 95%.
I like the current valuation right now of about $19 and believe it is worth much more. With elections coming soon, there will be a lot of noise about health costs and all. I do not believe this will have much of an impact on First Health in the long run since it's shielded from most of the litigation risks involved in health industry. And as prices continue to rise, many companies will turn to business like First Health for reasonable health care prices.

The company spots a good return on equity, nice cash flow and debt levels that are fair when compared to its industry.