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NAPLES -- Shares of Health Management Associates Inc.'s common stock (symbol: HMA) opened at $5 today, down 30% from Monday's close. The price set a new 52-week low for the Naples company.
The firm issued guidance for its fourth quarter and full year earnings for 2011 late Monday, saying it expected to end the year with nearly $6 billion in revenues. But multiple news outlets are pointing to a new analyst report, rather than those projections, as the source of investors' skittishness.
According to Bloomberg, a report filed by Sheryl Skolnick at CRT Capital Group LLC reignited investor focus on a pending lawsuit against HMA, filed by former employee Paul Meyer. In the report, Skolnick identifies Meyer as having “long experience” with Medicare fraud issues. A trial is currently scheduled for January 2013, Bloomberg says.
HMA stock has rebounded somewhat from its open today, but remains down 20% from its most recent close. With more than 250 million shares of stock outstanding, the drop represents a loss in market capitalization of roughly $500 million.
Health Management Associates is headquartered on Pelican Bay Boulevard. Through its subsidiaries, the company operates 66 hospitals, with 10,400 licensed beds.
Update, 2:42 p.m.: A newly released filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission shows that, on Jan. 5, HMA's General Counsel Timothy Parry declared his retirement. Parry will step down from his current positions with the company (he is also Secretary) on March 2. Linda Epstein will replace him.
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