Why Air Methods Corp. Shares Sank 12% Today
Image source: Air Methods Corp.
What happened
After providing investors withpreliminary patient transport and tourism passenger data for the month of August, shares inAir Methods Corp.(NASDAQ: AIRM)slipped by 11.9% today.
So what
Air Methods is a global leader in air medical transportation and its air medical services division is the largest provider of air medical transport services in the United States.
The company estimates that August transports rose 2.2% from last year and that fiscal third-quarter transports are 5.9% higher than the comparable period a year ago. August transports would have been much bigger if not for cancellations. Weather-related cancellations as a percent of requests for patient transport grew to 19.8% in August, which was far greater than the 14.8% average rate for weather cancellations in August between 2011 and 2015.
Data source: Air MethodsCorp.
Now what
In July, Air Methods released preliminary fiscal second-quarter results that disappointed investors, and in early August, official second-quarter results showed that sales grew 11% year over year to $293 million and EPS grew 1.4% year over year to $0.70. Both results were below industry watchers' forecasts.
The uptick in weather cancellations last month creates headwinds that could make it harder for Air Methods to reaccelerate financial results this quarter. Nevertheless,Air Methods results can vary widely from quarter to quarter, so investors might not want to give the August transport numbers too much weight, especially since this disappointment wasn't caused by operational missteps.
AIRM Revenue (Quarterly) data by YCharts.
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Todd Campbell has no position in any stocks mentioned.Todd owns E.B. Capital Markets, LLC. E.B. Capital's clients may have positions in the companies mentioned.Like this article? Follow him onTwitter where he goes by the handle@ebcapitalto see more articles like this.The Motley Fool recommends Air Methods. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.