It’s been a rather quiet quarter for eHealth, Inc. (NASDAQ: EHTH), the nation’s leading online source of health insurance for individuals, families and small businesses.
With their upcoming earnings for Q1/2009 set to be released after the market closes on April 28th, we’ll be able to check in on one of the stalwarts of the PeakStocks.com portfolio and a company that is up 35% since I originally recommended purchase last October, and is beating the overall market by 50%.
I previously wrote, after the company reported stellar Q4/08 and full year 2008 earnings, that eHealth was a beacon of light in an otherwise tumultuous market.
The question is, with eHealth’s strength and stock price rise, are shares a little top heavy now? Are analyst’s expectations getting ahead of themselves?
In this post I’ll go over the important aspects that we need to be aware of before eHealth announces earnings and then break them down into the following parameters:
- What went right in the quarter: What were some of the positive developments that occurred within the company in the last 3 months.
- What went wrong in the quarter: What were some of the negative developments that occurred within the company in the last 3 months.
- What I want to see: All things considered, what I realistically want to see from the company as it relates to their business.
- What we need to see: At the minimum, what we need to see for our investing thesis to still hold and an investment in this company to be prudent.
- What we’ll probably see: After weighing what’s been going on for the last 3 months, what we can realistically expect when they do announce their earnings.
- Bottom Line: What it all means, and what you should do.
New to the eHealth story?
eHealth, Inc. (NASDAQ: EHTH) offers Internet-based insurance agency services to individuals, families, and small businesses primarily in the United States. The company’s e-commerce platform, which is accessed directly via ehealth.com and ehealthinsurance.com, enable individuals and families to research, analyze, compare, and purchase health insurance products online.
