 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
This Month's Tiny Gems - July 2009Health Fitness Corp. (AMEX: FIT)
HealthStream, Inc. (NASDAQ: HSTM)
iMergent, Inc. (AMEX: IIG)
Health Fitness Corp. (AMEX: FIT)
Health Fitness Corp. (AMEX: FIT) provides integrated health and fitness management services for employees and individuals. The company has dedicated itself to supporting, maintaining and enhancing the health of the people they serve. Health Fitness offers an array of on-site, telephonic and Web-based workplace population programs that help improve health and fitness.
To capitalize on growth opportunities within the employer marketplace, the company has organized its business into two segments: Fitness Management Services and Health Management Services. Each of these business segments provides two types of service: Staffing Services, and Program Services. Staffing services help organizations staff and manage their own fitness centers, while program services generate revenues within Health Fitness’s centers.
Founded in 1975, the company serves more than 300 corporate clients across 400 locations nationwide. The company believes in using targeted solutions to engage a client’s unique team of employees. With 30+ years of industry experience, Health Fitness offers a comprehensive portfolio of innovative health improvement solutions designed to help employers avoid rising health care costs while improving productivity.
According to a Watson Wyatt productivity study, organizations with highly effective health and productivity practices achieve 20 percent more revenue per employee, have a 16.1 percent higher market value and deliver a 57 percent higher shareholder return. With healthcare costs rising and employee productivity becoming increasingly more important, managing workforce health has become extremely compelling.
HealthStream, Inc. (NASDAQ: HSTM)
HealthStream, Inc. (NASDAQ: HSTM) provides learning and research solutions to the healthcare industry, with the goal of transforming insight into action to deliver exceptional results for healthcare organizations. The company’s learning solutions have been contracted by over 1.9 million hospital-based healthcare professionals. Their solutions promote safer environments for patients, increase clinical competencies of their workforces, and facilitate the rapid transfer of the latest knowledge and technologies.
Spending in the healthcare industry reached approximately $2.2 trillion in 2007, or 16.2 percent of the gross domestic product. Approximately 10.4 million professionals are currently employed in the U.S. healthcare segment, with approximately 5.3 million employed in hospitals, HealthStream’s target market. With continuing education requirements for nurses, emergency medical services personnel, first responder personnel, radiologic personnel, and physicians, the company is well positioned in a stable industry.
The company was recently named one of "America's 100 Fastest Growing Small Public Companies" by FORTUNE Small Business. Commenting on the company, FORTUNE Small Business stated, “The FSB 100 constitutes an elite group of small public companies: the best of the best, measured by revenue growth and stock performance over the past three years. But in this Great Recession, their performance is nothing short of miraculous."
In a recent press release reporting its financial results for the second quarter, the company recognized revenue growth of 12% compared to the same period a year earlier. Net income increased even more dramatically from $739,000 to $1.7 million with Earnings per Share (EPS) of $0.08 compared to $0.03. Additionally, the company updated its guidance for the current year predicting revenue growth of 10-12% and a 50-80% increase in operating income.
iMergent, Inc. (AMEX: IIG)
iMergent, Inc. (AMEX: IIG) is focused on helping small businesses and entrepreneurs overcome their unique Internet challenges. Whether the client is a "brick and mortar" company expanding its business to the Internet or introducing an innovative idea to the eCommerce world, iMergent offers a complete line of eServices to facilitate the entire process from concept to operation. The company strives to make anyone’s Internet business concept a reality at an affordable price.
iMergent's eCommerce technology, the StoresOnline Pro development platform, has progressed continuously over the past decade. During website development, clients can now view their site just as if they were a customer. Utilizing a user friendly interface, they can edit, rearrange, add, and delete elements as necessary to reach perfection. Thousands have benefited from the platform’s ease of use and feature-rich functionality.
In recent news, iMergent’s board of directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.02 per share. The dividend is payable on July 31, 2009 to stockholders of record as of July 15, 2009. The company also recently appointed David H. Krietzberg as its Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer. Mr. Krietzberg has accumulated extensive experience in operations management, strategic planning, financial management, building organizations and developing high performance teams.
Looking to the future, the company intends to grow further by establishing partnerships with value added resellers and expanding its product offerings. Currently, iMergent is focused on introducing new managed network services as well as hosted telecom services. The company should be put on radar during this difficult economic environment as existing businesses strive to replace lost revenues through ecommerce sales and those unemployed seek to start their own businesses.