Touch and Go at HMA

Sometimes it seems that patient investors, rather than hospital patients, are the main thing keeping Health Management Associates (HMA Quote) off the critical list.

Just take a look at the company's stock chart. After a stellar performance throughout most of the 1990s, the shares have bumped along and wound up essentially unchanged around the $20 mark over the past five years. Certainly, the stock has fared better than industry laggard Tenet (THC Quote) and the much larger HCA (HCA Quote). However, after a series of high-priced acquisitions in a tough industry environment, the company hardly ranks as the standout investment that it once did.

Sheryl Skolnick, senior vice president of CRT Capital Group, cannot fathom why investors continue to hang on. ...