Lincare nets $46 million

CLEARWATER — Lincare Holdings Inc. (symbol: LNCR) earned $46.4 million in net income on $431.6 million in net revenues through the first quarter of 2011. Lincare provides in-home respiratory therapy and services to patients across the country.

Changes to Medicare's payment system actually hurt Lincare's net revenues, causing a $16.7 million negative impact compared to last year's first quarter. But internal and acquisition growth more than compensated for that loss, leading to 5.2% over-the-year growth in business.

The company generated $81.3 million in cash from its first quarter operations, and used $20.6 million of it to fund acquisitions. Going forward, Lincare has total long-term debt obligations of $509.2 million, against total assets of $2.1 billion and cash reserves of $173.6 million.