(RTTNews) - Tuesday, HLTH Corp.
(HLTH), reported that its first quarter net income soared from last year, thanks primarily to a gain of $538 million from the sale of the company's interest in Emdeon Business Services.
The company's net income for the quarter surged to $463 million or $2.54 per share from $5.7 million or $0.03 per share in the year-ago quarter. Analysts polled by Thomson FirstCall expected the company to earn $0.11 per share.
HLTH's income from continuing operations for the quarter was $459.6 million or $2.03 per share, compared with $687 thousand in the year earlier quarter.
The recent first quarter results included a gain of $538 million, or about $514 million net of tax, from the sale of HLTH's 48% minority interest in Emdeon Business Services and a $60.1 million impairment charge related to a reduction in fair value of the company's auction rate securities investments.
The company's quarterly revenues increased to $81.6 million from $71.88 million in the year earlier quarter. Wall Street analysts were looking for revenues of $134.79 million.
As previously announced, HLTH and WebMD entered into a definitive merger agreement on February 20, 2008. According to the agreement, HLTH will be merged into WebMD, with each outstanding share of HLTH common stock to be converted into 0.1979 shares of WebMD common stock and $6.89 in cash, subject to certain adjustments. Completion of the merger is subject to approval of the stockholders of both HLTH and WebMD, among other conditions. HLTH and WebMD currently expect to file a preliminary proxy statement/prospectus relating to the merger in the next few weeks.
WebMD's Online Services segment revenue increased 15% to $78.4 million for the first quarter from $68.4 million in the prior year period. Advertising and sponsorship revenue increased 18% to $56.1 million. WebMD's Publishing and Other Services segment revenue declined to $3.3 million for the first quarter from $3.5 million in the comparable quarter a year before.
HLTH closed Tuesday's trade down $0.06 at $11.32 on a volume of 1.29 million shares. In after-hours the stock lost $0.01 and was at $11.31.
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