HMS : Reports First Quarter 2015 Results

HMS Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:HMSY) today announced financial results for the first quarter of 2015. Net income for the quarter ended March 31, 2015 was $3.5 million or $0.04 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $2.4 million or ($0.03) per diluted share in the prior quarter and net income of $3.4 million or $0.04 per diluted share in the prior year first quarter. Adjusted EPS was $0.11 per diluted share in the first quarter, compared to $0.03 per diluted share in the prior quarter, though unusual items totaling $0.07 per diluted share negatively impacted prior quarter adjusted EPS. Adjusted EPS in the first quarter of 2014 was $0.11 per diluted share. Total revenue was $110.3 million compared to $112.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2014 and $104.7 million in the first quarter of last year.

"2015 is off to a strong start, with year over year non-Medicare RAC revenue up 15% and our core coordination of benefits business up 25%," said Bill Lucia, President and CEO. "State government revenue in the first quarter exceeded our expectations. We saw a big influx of Medicaid lives, as the tail of 2014 Affordable Care Act driven Medicaid growth continued to impact our state eligibility files."

"Our effort to re-secure a dozen state Medicaid contracts up for renewal in 2015 is well underway," commented Lucia. "Massachusetts has extended our third party liability (TPL) contract for 21 months, rather than issuing an RFP this year, and we were awarded the Wisconsin casualty business in April. We have also responded to Florida’s “Invitation to Negotiate” and submitted RFP responses recently in New Jersey, New York, New Mexico and Oklahoma," Lucia added.

Total revenue of $108.0 million, excluding Medicare RAC, was 14.8% higher than the prior year first quarter. Commercial revenue in the quarter was $43.2 million, a 17.1% increase compared to $36.9 million in the prior year first quarter; state government revenue was $59.8 million, a 15.0% increase compared to $52.0 million in the prior year first quarter; and non-Medicare RAC federal and other revenue was $5.0 million, a 3.8% decrease compared to $5.2 million in the prior year first quarter.

Coordination of benefits ("COB") products accounted for 76% of total revenue in the first quarter. Total COB revenue in the quarter from both commercial and government customers was $83.3 million, a $16.5 million or 24.7% increase compared to the prior year first quarter. Payment integrity product revenue from both commercial and government customers, excluding Medicare RAC, was $24.7 million, a $2.6 million or 9.5% decline from the prior year first quarter.

"Commercial program integrity revenue previously deferred by implementation delays continued to come on line at a slower pace than planned in the first quarter. We have a focused effort underway to reduce the length of new client implementations, which we expect will have a noticeable impact this year," said Jeff Sherman, CFO. "Our new sales team really hit the ground running in the first quarter, with 1.2 million lives added to our commercial customer base of over 80 million and additional products sold to current commercial customers covering approximately 3.9 million lives. Though revenue from those new sales will not be evident until the end of this year, it gives us added confidence that full year commercial revenue will increase by 20% in 2015.”

Webcast and Conference Call Information

HMS will report its first quarter 2015 financial and operating results at 7:30 AM CT / 8:30 AM ET on Friday, May 8, 2015. The webcast can be accessed via phone at (877)303–7208 or (224)357–2389 for international participants, or at http://investor.hms.com/events.cfm.

The webcast will be archived for replay at http://investor.hms.com/events.cfm on the HMS Investor Relations website. The replay will be available beginning at approximately 11:00 AM CT / 12:00 PM ET on May 8, 2015.

The HMS form 10–Q for the period ended March 31, 2015 will be filed and available on the HMS website at http://investor.hms.com/financials.cfm on May 11, 2015 and will contain additional information about our results of operations for the quarter. This press release and the interim financial statements contained herein are also available at http://investor.hms.com/releases.cfm.

About HMS

HMS Holdings Corp., through its subsidiaries, provides coordination of benefits and payment integrity services for payers. The Company serves Medicaid programs in 45 states and the District of Columbia; commercial health plans, including Medicaid managed care, Medicare Advantage and group and individual health lines of business; federal government health agencies, including the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services ("CMS") and the Veterans Health Administration; government and private employers; child support agencies; and other healthcare payers and sponsors. As a result of the Company’s services, our customers recovered billions of dollars in 2014 and saved billions more through the prevention of erroneous payments.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This press release includes presentations of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization ("EBITDA") and adjusted EBITDA. Adjusted EBITDA represents EBITDA adjusted for stock-based compensation expense. EBITDA is a common measure of performance used by the capital markets to value enterprises, which the Company’s management uses in addition to measures calculated in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP") to evaluate its results of operations. EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure and is reconciled to net income (loss), which the Company's management believes to be the most comparable GAAP measure. Adjusted EBITDA results are calculated by adjusting GAAP income (loss) to exclude the effects of net interest expense, income taxes, depreciation and amortization and stock-based compensation expense.

This press release also includes presentations of adjusted earnings per share ("EPS"). Adjusted EPS represents EPS adjusted for stock-based compensation expense and amortization of acquisition related software and intangible assets and for the related taxes for these adjustments. Adjusted EPS is a non-GAAP financial measure and is reconciled to EPS, which the Company’s management believes to be the most comparable GAAP measure.

The Company uses these non-GAAP financial measures for internal management purposes, when publicly providing guidance on possible future results, and as a means to evaluate period-to-period comparisons. The Company's management believes that these non-GAAP financial measures are a common measure used by its investors and analysts to evaluate its performance. The use of these non-GAAP financial measures has limitations, and the Company’s presentation of such financial measures may be different from the presentation used by other companies, and therefore comparability may be limited. These non-GAAP financial measures are used in addition to and in conjunction with results presented in accordance with GAAP and reflect an additional way of viewing aspects of the Company's operations that, when viewed with GAAP results and the accompanying reconciliations to corresponding GAAP financial measures, provides a more complete understanding of the results of operations and trends affecting the Company's business. These non-GAAP financial measures should be considered as a supplement to, and not as a substitute for, or superior to, income (loss) in accordance with GAAP.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements give our expectations or forecasts of future events; they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as "anticipates," "estimates," "expects," "projects," "intends," "plans," "believes," "will," "target," "seeks," "forecast" and similar expressions and references to guidance. In particular, these include statements relating to future actions, business plans, objectives and prospects, and future operating or financial performance. Forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations and assumptions regarding our business, the economy and other future conditions. Should known or unknown risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove inaccurate, actual results could differ materially from past results and those anticipated, estimated or projected. We caution you therefore against relying on any of these forward-looking statements.

Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to: variations in our results of operations; changes in the U.S. healthcare environment and steps we take in anticipation of such changes; regulatory, budgetary or political actions that affect procurement practices; our ability to retain customers or the loss of one or more major customers, including through our failure to re-procure a contract or the reduction in scope or early termination of one or more of our significant contracts; our ability to effectively manage our growth to execute on our business plans; the risk that guidance may not be achieved including but not limited to the risk that we may not achieve non-Medicare margin expansion or the anticipated year over year increase in commercial revenue will not be achieved; the risk that HMS will not receive a contract award for any current or future procurement or re-procurement or that either or both may be delayed; the risk of negative or reduced growth rate of spending on Medicaid/Medicare, simplification of the healthcare payment process or programmatic changes that diminish the scope of benefits; the risk that CMS may not support the RAC program, may change the RAC program and reduce future fees, and may require repayment of certain prior fees; our ability to retain customers or the loss of one or more major customers; customer dissatisfaction or early termination of contracts triggering significant costs or liabilities; the development by competitors of new or superior products or services; the emergence of new competitors, or the development by our customers of in-house capacity to perform the services we offer; all the risks inherent in the development, introduction, and implementation of new products and services; our failure to comply with laws and regulations governing health data or to protect such data from theft and misuse; our ability to maintain effective information systems and protect them from damage, interruption or breach; restrictions on our ability to bid on/perform certain work due to other work we currently perform; the risks and uncertainties attendant to litigation; our ability to successfully integrate any acquisitions and the risk that such acquisitions will not result in the anticipated benefits; our ability to continue to secure contracts through the competitive bidding process and to accurately predict the cost and time to complete such contracts; unanticipated changes in our effective tax rates; the risk of security breaches of our technology systems and networks; the risk that our efforts to protect intellectual property rights, confidential and proprietary information, or confidential or proprietary information of others in our possession, will not be adequate;; our compliance with the covenants and obligations under the terms of our credit facility and our ability to generate sufficient cash to cover our interest and principal payments thereunder; and negative results of government or customer reviews, audits or investigations to verify our compliance with contracts and applicable laws and regulations. A further description of these and other risks, uncertainties, and related matters can be found in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2014, which is available at www.hms.com under the "Investor Relations" tab. Factors or events that could cause actual results to differ may emerge from time to time and it is not possible for us to predict all of them. Any forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release and we do not undertake an obligation to publicly update forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law.