Assisted Living Concepts Inc. Stock Downgraded (ALC)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Assisted Living Concepts (NYSE:ALC) has been downgraded by TheStreet Ratings from buy to hold. Among the primary strengths of the company is its solid financial position based on a variety of debt and liquidity measures that we have evaluated. At the same time, however, we also find weaknesses including deteriorating net income, disappointing return on equity and poor profit margins.

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Highlights from the ratings report include:

• The debt-to-equity ratio is somewhat low, currently at 0.65, and is less than that of the industry average, implying that there has been a relatively successful effort in the management of debt levels. Even though the company has a strong debt-to-equity ratio, the quick ratio of 0.35 is very weak and demonstrates a lack of ability to pay short-term obligations.
• ALC, with its decline in revenue, underperformed when compared the industry average of 7.7%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly dropped by 3.0%. Weakness in the company's revenue seems to have hurt the bottom line, decreasing earnings per share.
• ASSISTED LIVING CONCEPTS INC has exprienced a steep decline in earnings per share in the most recent quarter in comparison to its performance from the same quarter a year ago. This company has reported somewhat volatile earnings recently. We feel it is likely to report a decline in earnings in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, ASSISTED LIVING CONCEPTS INC increased its bottom line by earning $1.05 versus $0.71 in the prior year. For the next year, the market is expecting a contraction of 19.6% in earnings ($0.84 versus $1.05).
• The gross profit margin for ASSISTED LIVING CONCEPTS INC is currently lower than what is desirable, coming in at 32.10%. It has decreased from the same quarter the previous year. Along with this, the net profit margin of -44.20% is significantly below that of the industry average.
• Net operating cash flow has significantly decreased to -$28.41 million or 352.49% when compared to the same quarter last year. In addition, when comparing to the industry average, the firm's growth rate is much lower.

Assisted Living Concepts, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates senior living residences in the United States. The company has a P/E ratio of 13.1, above the average health services industry P/E ratio of 13 and below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Assisted Living Concepts has a market cap of $281.8 million and is part of the health care sector and health services industry. Shares are down 5.2% year to date as of the close of trading on Monday.

You can view the full Assisted Living Concepts Ratings Report or get investment ideas from our investment research center.

-- Written by a member of TheStreet Ratings Staff

TheStreet ratings do not represent the views of TheStreet's staff or its contributors. Ratings are established by computer based on metrics for performance (which includes growth, stock performance, efficiency and valuation) and risk (volatility and solvency). Companies with poor cash flow or high debt levels tend to earn lower ratings in our model.

For more information on Assisted Living Concepts Inc. click any of the following:

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