Growth company growing doubt? Analysts wonder if Community Health is overestimating its purchase of Triad.(The Week in Healthcare)(Triad Hospitals Inc.)(Community Health Systems Inc.)

Modern Healthcare, April, 2007 by Galloro, Vince

Byline: Vince Galloro

The bigger a growth company becomes, the harder it is to keep growing at the same pace. It's elemental mathematics: It takes a bigger boost in revenue compared with the year-ago quarter to sustain a 20% growth rate as the revenue base grows larger.

Community Health Systems, Franklin, Tenn., may be the latest example of that. When the company announced its $6.8 billion acquisition of Triad Hospitals, Plano, Texas, in March, some healthcare stock analysts wondered if the deal-an uncharacteristically bold and risky move by the steady Community Health-was a sign that Community's financial results were slowing down. Sheryl Skolnick, a senior vice president with CRT Capital Holdings, Stamford, Conn., said the first-quarter results...

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