With the presidential election, the topic of healthcare has been red-hot. And that's giving more visibility to eHealth (Nasdaq: EHTH), which operates a platform to allow individuals, families and businesses to purchase health insurance.
No doubt, it's is a good business. In Q4, eHealth posted revenues of $24.2 million, up 39%. Net income came to $22.4 million (which included a major tax benefit). Cash flow from operations was $7.9 million, up 61%. In all, eHealth has $121.5 million in the bank.
Basically, eHealth is a marketing powerhouse – and has been particularly skillful with online advertising and search engine optimization. That is, if you query popular healthcare terms on Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), you are likely to see links to eHealth.
The company is also getting lots of traction from major partners, such as Aetna (NASDAQ: AET). What's more, eHealth is expanding into new markets, such as with China and a new product for HSAs.
Interestingly enough, the slowing economy may be helping eHealth. How? Well, as people lose their jobs, they often need to buy their own healthcare insurance policies.
So far, investors are happy with the results. In today's trading, eHealth's stock is up 17.57% to $25.90.
Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook
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