Skilled Healthcare (NYSE:SKH) EPS Estimate Boosted on Favorable Medicare Environment

Skilled Healthcare Group (NYSE:SKH) had their EPS estimates raised by Barclays, based on an extremely favorable Medicare environment.

Barclays says, "In short, the market had been anticipating a strong number from SKH given that Kindred (NYSE:KND)'s guidance was much better than expected in mid-December and had implied a very favorable Medicare reimbursement environment for 2011. That said, we believe guidance was well ahead of market expectations. With this news, we are increasing our 2010 EPS estimate to $1.03 (from $0.95), increasing 2011 to $1.26 (from $0.93) and introducing our preliminary estimate for 2012 of $1.33."

Barclays maintains an "Equalweight" rating on Skilled Healthcare Group, which closed Friday at $10.70, gaining $0.04, or 0.38 percent. Barclays raised their price target on Skilled from $6 to $12.