VCA Antech

• Are These Three Post-Earnings Winners Worth Buying?

  By Brian Nichols - April 30, 2013 | Tickers: NR, SYNA, WOOF

  Last Friday we saw some great post-earning moves higher, leaving many investors wondering how to play these big-time gainers. Therefore, I am taking a look at the quarters from three of these movers, looking at the valuations, and determining if now is the time to buy.

  A reason for excitement found in this company’s conference call

  Shares of Synaptics (NASDAQ: SYNA) rallied 8.98% on Friday after reporting earnings more »

• Take Advantage of the Stable and Growing Pet Products Industry

  By Ted Cooper - April 1, 2013 | Tickers: IDXX, PETM, WOOF

  U.S. spending on pets surpassed $53 billion in 2012, up from just $17 billion in 1994, according to the American Pet Products Association. Most of the businesses that cater to pets -- especially at the higher end -- are growing at a steady mid-to-high single-digit pace.

  The industry's steady past returns and favorable growth prospects makes a pull-back in a pet-related company's stock price an opportunity to get in more »

• Picking a Promising Pet Stock

  By Eric Novinson - February 27, 2013 | Tickers: IDXX, MWIV, PETS, PETM, WOOF

  Pet related stocks carry high approval ratings from other Fools. Five of the eight stocks that show up under the Pets tag have five star CAPS ratings. These companies all help take care of pets, but they aren't all in the same line of business, and they don't all have similar financial expectations. Picking the strongest pet stock could make a big difference. After eliminating stocks with very more »

• There's Big Money In Taking Care of Animals

  By Reuben Brewer - February 11, 2013 | Tickers: MWIV, PETS, PETM, PFE, WOOF, ZTS

  Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) just sold a little under 20% of its animal health unit to the public. Zoetis (NYSE: ZTS) is a massive competitor in its space and should interest investors looking to benefit from both the farming and the companion pet angle of the animal health industry. The latter has a few other options worth looking at, but there is no other way to directly touch on drugs for more »

• This Industry Leader Is Significantly Undervalued

  By Ted Cooper - January 18, 2013 | Tickers: GE, IDXX, WOOF

  When you think of industry leaders, you generally think about companies like Johnson & Johnson and ExxonMobil. However, the enormous companies that make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average are not the only great wide-moat businesses available to invest in. For instance, VCA Antech (NASDAQ: WOOF), an animal hospital and laboratory roll-up, is a terrific company with an enormous competitive advantage.

  At first glance, VCA's $1.9 billion market capitalization more »

• Are These Stocks Worth "Howling" Over?

  By David Mercer - January 9, 2013 | Tickers: MWIV, PETS, WOOF |

  Anyone that knows me personally knows I love animals and everything four-legged. In recent years, a number of pet-focused companies became prominent in the financial markets, we'll examine three (3) of them. The first is PetMed Express (NASDAQ: PETS). As its name suggests, PETS or 1-800 Pet Meds, as advertised on television, caters to pet owners, more specifically as a mail order pet pharmacy. This includes pet medications as more »

• Making Money Off of Pets

  By Reuben Brewer - November 20, 2012 | Tickers: MWIV, PETS, PETM, WOOF

  People love their pets, sometimes to a degree that makes non-pet owners a little sick to their stomachs. It isn't hard to understand how some would find it odd to push a lap dog around in a baby carriage. However, this is an important trend in the pet industry (pet spending, not baby carriages). Companies like PetSmart (NASDAQ: PETM), MWI Veterinary Supply (NASDAQ: MWIV), PetMed Express (NASDAQ: PETS), and more »

• What You Might Not Know About Stocks in This Sector

  By Lee Samaha - October 30, 2012 | Tickers: AMZN, IDXX, PETM, WOOF, WMT

  I’m a big fan of the animal health sector but not necessarily the stocks within it. The sector looks set for good long term growth as demographics and socio-economic trends are working in favor of increasing numbers of companion animals. Aging populations and increasing numbers of single parent families along with decreasing marriage rates all add up to the increased proclivity to acquire pets as a form of emotional more »

• Amazon.com Is Taking Over the World… of Pet Supplies

  By Brian Shaw - October 20, 2012 | Tickers: AMZN, PETS, PETM, WOOF, WMT |

  In a recent post, I briefly summarized the history of Amazon.com’s (NASDAQ: AMZN) rapid growth.  While most investors are already aware of the impact Amazon.com has had on brick and mortar bookstores like Barnes & Noble and electronics stores such as Best Buy, there is significantly more going on at Amazon.com.   This is the first in a series of posts analyzing some areas of focus for Amazon more »

• P2 Capital Partners’ Top Stock Picks

  By Meena Krishnamsetty - September 23, 2012 | Tickers: ACIW, BYI, POOL, UTIW, WOOF

  P2 Capital Partners tends to focus on smaller cap public companies and uses a private equity-like approach to identify and value potential investment opportunities. P2’s founder, Claus Moller, previously worked at Blum Capital where he was a managing partner. Moller also has an MBA degree from Harvard Business School. Read on to learn more about the top five positions the fund reported on its 13F filing for the second more »

• A Sector Benefiting from Favorable Demographics

  By Lee Samaha - August 7, 2012 | Tickers: HD, IDXX, PETM, WOOF, WMT

  I think everyone is familiar with a stock pitch or a research report that mentions ‘favorable demographics’ as a key earnings driver. I certainly am. In fact, I’ve written articles that use the phrase, so I have no axe to grind on the issue. On the other hand, I think it is sometimes used to describe sectors like healthcare that so obviously have favorable demographics that the fact itself more »

• When Earnings Miss, Investors Hiss

  By Matthew DiLallo - July 26, 2012 | Tickers: AMZN, PETS, PETM, WOOF, WMT

  When a small cap company reports earnings that don’t meet or exceed analysts’ estimates watch out below.  That’s exactly what happened when PetMed Express (NASDAQ: PETS) reported earnings on July 23, sending the shares down by more than 15%.  All too often investors hiss and growl for no reason after an earnings miss, but in this case you can see why they’ve put this stock in the more »

• The One Small Cap I’m Buying Today

  By Matthew DiLallo - July 6, 2012 | Tickers: AMZN, CYH, PETS, PETM, WOOF, WMT

  If you’ve followed me in building the “No Drip, No Mess” Portfolio you’ll know that I just can’t seem to get over writing puts on dividend paying stocks. This time however, instead of writing puts to get a boring slow grower, I’m writing puts on a much more volatile small cap. PetMed Express (NASDAQ: PETS) is a nationwide pet pharmacy that markets both prescription and non-prescription more »

• Vet Bills Strangling Your Budget? Strangle Back!

  By Matthew DiLallo - May 23, 2012 | Tickers: PETS, PETM, PG, WOOF

  I’ve been a lover of animals for as long as I can remember and growing up on a small farm I think we owned just about every domestic animal available.  We all have our favorite animals, mine just happens to be cats, and one of the most disappointing days in recent memory was the day my now wife told me she was allergic to those lovable fur balls. She more »

• Pet Parents: Sticky R Services

  By Jane Genova - April 13, 2012 | Tickers: PETM, WOOF

  Spending on animal companions could total $52.84 billion this year, up about 4% from last, estimates the American Pet Products Association. The industry continues to prove itself recession resistant.  “Pet parents,” the way some owners prefer to identity themselves, will cut back on themselves before denying their children.  But not every dollar spent is equally attractive to investors. Too much of the pet dollar represents discounted purchases at the more »