Medco Health Solutions (MHS - option chain) shares are rising today after the company reported earnings this morning, posting a third-quarter profit of $371.5 million, or 85 cents per share. Excluding one-time items, MHS earned 91 cents per share on revenue of $16.32 billion. Analysts had forecast a profit of 88 cents per share on revenue of $16.14 billion. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on MHS.

MHS opened this morning at $54.09. So far today the stock has hit a low of $53.60 and a high of $56.70. As of 12:15, MHS is trading at $56.59 up $4.22 (8.1%). The chart for MHS looks bullish and S&P gives MHS a positive 5 STARS (out of 5) strong buy ranking.

Sometimes our biggest medical emergency is the cost of the drugs we need to treat our physical ailments. There is a firm in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, that actively pursues initiatives to cut increasing drug costs and it has some clout. It is the nation's leading pharmacy benefit manager and operates the country's largest mail order pharmacy.

Medco Health Solutions (NYSE: MHS) serves some 65 million members in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Patients fill their prescription needs through a network of close to 60,000 pharmacies, a mail-order program, or the company's online pharmacy. Medco helps contain pharmacy health care costs for private and public employers, health plans, labor unions, government agencies, and individuals served by the Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Program. Cigna (NYSE: CI) and Express Scripts (NASDAQ: ESRX) are major competitors. IBM (NYSE: IBM) is a major customer.

Sometimes our biggest medical emergency is the cost of the drugs we need to treat our physical ailment. There is a firm in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey that actively pursues initiatives to cut spiraling drug rates and it has some clout. It is the nation's leading pharmacy benefit manager and operates the country's largest mail order pharmacy.

Medco Health Solutions Inc.(NYSE:MHS) serves some 65 million members in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Patients fill their prescription needs through a network of close to 60,000 pharmacies, a mail-order program, or the company's Internet pharmacy. Medco helps contain pharmacy health care costs for private and public employers, health plans, labor unions, government agencies, and individuals served by the Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Program. It is the highest-ranked pharmacy benefit manager on the Fortune 500 list.

The firm pleased investors last week, when it topped the Street's fourth quarter earnings expectations and essentially matched revenue estimates. Management also offered solid upside guidance for FY07 earnings. Prudential, Goldman Sachs and First Albany subsequently reiterated "buy" recommendations and boosted their price targets to $80. MHS shares popped on the news and have since been consolidating the gain in a bullish "flag" pattern. Equities frequently exit flags moving in the same direction they were traveling when they entered them. In this case, that would be to the upside.

Altogether, brokers recommend MHS with ten "strong buys," seven "buys" and six "holds." Analysts see a 20% growth rate, through the next year. The stock's Price to Sales ratio (0.44), Price to Book ratio (2.51), Price to Free Cash Flow ratio (17.23), EPS Growth rate (27.27%) and Revenue per Employee ($2.80M) compare favorably with industry, sector and S&P 500 averages. Institutional investors hold about 73% of the outstanding shares. The stock is one of those used to calculate the S&P 500 Index. Over the past 52 weeks, it has traded between $47.08 and $69. A stop-loss of $58 looks good here.

Larry Schutts is a contributing editor for Theflyonthewall.com and the Vice-President of Stockwinners.com.