The following are the top rated Health Care stocks according to Validea's P/E/Growth Investor model based on the published strategy of Peter Lynch. This strategy looks for stocks trading at a reasonable price relative to earnings growth that also possess strong balance sheets.
ACADIA HEALTHCARE COMPANY INC (ACHC) is a mid-cap growth stock in the Healthcare Facilities industry. The rating according to our strategy based on Peter Lynch is 91% based on the firm’s underlying fundamentals and the stock’s valuation. A score of 80% or above typically indicates that the strategy has some interest in the stock and a score above 90% typically indicates strong interest.
Company Description: Acadia Healthcare Company, Inc. is a provider of behavioral healthcare services across the United States. The Company is focused on acquiring and developing behavioral healthcare facilities. The Company is engaged in developing and operating inpatient psychiatric facilities, residential treatment centers, group homes, substance abuse facilities and facilities providing outpatient behavioral healthcare services to serve the behavioral health and recovery needs of communities throughout the United States. Its facilities that offer acute care services provide evaluation and crisis stabilization of patients with severe psychiatric diagnoses through a medical delivery model that incorporates structured and intensive medical and behavioral therapies with 24-hour monitoring by a psychiatrist, psychiatric trained nurses, therapists and other direct care staff. Its specialty treatment facilities include residential recovery facilities and eating disorder facilities.
The following table summarizes whether the stock meets each of this strategy's tests. Not all criteria in the below table receive equal weighting or are independent, but the table provides a brief overview of the strong and weak points of the security in the context of the strategy's criteria.
| P/E/GROWTH RATIO: | PASS |
| SALES AND P/E RATIO: | PASS |
| INVENTORY TO SALES: | PASS |
| EPS GROWTH RATE: | PASS |
| TOTAL DEBT/EQUITY RATIO: | PASS |
| FREE CASH FLOW: | NEUTRAL |
| NET CASH POSITION: | NEUTRAL |
Detailed Analysis of ACADIA HEALTHCARE COMPANY INC
About Peter Lynch: Perhaps the greatest mutual fund manager of all-time, Lynch guided Fidelity Investment's Magellan Fund to a 29.2 percent average annual return from 1977 until his retirement in 1990, almost doubling the S&P 500's 15.8 percent yearly return over that time. Lynch's common sense approach and quick wit made him one of the most quoted investors on Wall Street. ("Go for a business that any idiot can run -- because sooner or later, any idiot probably is going to run it," is one of his many pearls of wisdom.) Lynch's bestseller One Up on Wall Street is something of a "stocks for the everyman/everywoman", breaking his approach down into easy-to-understand concepts.
About Validea: Validea is aninvestment researchservice that follows the published strategies of investment legends. Validea offers both stock analysis and model portfolios based on gurus who have outperformed the market over the long-term, including Warren Buffett, Benjamin Graham, Peter Lynch and Martin Zweig. For more information about Validea, click here
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.