Lincare Holdings Q3:10 EPS In-Line With Oppenheimer Estimates And Street Consensus

Lincare Holdings, Inc. LNCR reported Q3:10 EPS of $0.47, in line with both Oppenheimer's estimates and Street consensus. Results were generally in-line, although the company saw its bad debt expense tick up 110 bps ($0.03/share) due to economic conditions, and Oppenheimer says that it expects it to remain elevated by ~50 bps going forward. “In addition, LNCR expects an additional $3M in lower average sales price (ASP) drug pricing, effective Q4:10,” Oppenheimer writes. “As a result, we have tweaked our FY2010 and FY2011 EPS estimates to $1.85 and $2.04, down from $1.86 and $2.07, respectively.” Although the market was likely expecting the typical $0.01-$0.02 beat, Oppenheimer says that it doesn't believe this significantly changes the story, which is predicated on the uncertain reimbursement outlook. Lincare Holdings currently trades for $27.46.