Why BioScrip Inc. Shares Stumbled

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of BioScrip , a provider of home care services and pharmacy benefit management services in the U.S., tumbled by as much as 13% after the company reported disappointing fourth-quarter earnings results.

So what: For the quarter, BioScrip reported a nearly 35% increase in revenue to $243.5 million, driven by a 56.3% boost in its infusion services segment. The bulk of this gain came from the acquisition of HomeChoice and CarePoint, and through organic growth from its existing infusion services. By contrast, its home health service revenue was basically flat while its pharmacy benefit management, or PBM, segment saw revenue nearly halved to $13.5 million due to the termination of a low-margin client during the quarter. Despite its strong revenue growth, BioScrip's loss per share ballooned to $0.23 from $0.03 in the year-ago period. By comparison, BioScrip topped the Street's revenue estimate by nearly $4.1 million, but missed its expectation of a $0.04 EPS profit by a mile. For fiscal 2014, BioScrip anticipates 20% revenue growth in its infusion segment with double-digit organic growth that will be offset by ongoing weakness in its home health and PBM segments.

Now what: BioScrip has obviously demonstrated that it can grow rapidly via acquisitions, but today's drop appears to demonstrate that shareholders want to see better cost control and more organic growth before they'll give it a clean bill of health. With the uncertainties of Medicare reimbursements readily apparent because of the transformative health care law known as Obamacare, I can understand why the home health segment is struggling. However, there's no reason that BioScrip shouldn't be able to snag new contracts in its PBM segment, which should benefit from Obamacare. Until we see a marked improvement in BioScrip's bottom line and its PBM segment, I'd suggest sticking to the sidelines.