26.7

From a recent Mad Money show:

"This company is a classic good name that should be bought on dips. It's a long-term theme and I'd stick with it."

employer

While continued buybacks are always a good sign, they are not always an indicator to begin buying shares of a company. Idexx Laboratories (IDXX) has recently increased its buyback program, authoring the repurchase of an additional four million shares. The company had 2,852,000 shares remaining as of Dec. 31, 2007.

Idexx, which produces products and provides services for the veterinary industry, saw its profit rise 3% to $25.5 million, or 40 cents a share, in the fourth quarter. The company beat Wall Street expectations with revenue up 27% at $245 million. The segment that contributes the maximum to the company's total revenue, companion animal group, generated 26% revenue growth.

Idexx raised its revenue guidance for 2008 to between $1.05 billion and $1.07 billion, from between $1.03 billion and $1.05 billion. This forecast was also ahead of analysts' expectations. It projected earnings of between $1.83 a share and $1.87 a share for the year.

Idexx has product launches lined up for this year, which is good news. Two of these products have the potential of revolutionizing the way testing is done by veterinarians. The company's balance sheet is strong with little long-term debt. Also, the company has been generating strong free-cash flows.

According to a BusinessWeek article, the market for animal health care is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 12% over the next couple of years. Along with Idexx benefiting from pet owners caring for their pets, VCA Antech (WOOF) is another company in the veterinary space that you should take a look at. VCA Antech operates over 435 veterinary hospitals and diagnostic labs.

Idexx generates a return on equity of 22.17%, and its shares have gained more than 30% in value over the last 52 weeks, climbing steadily from below $40 at the beginning of this year to now close to $56. However, the pet industry and the company are likely to continue to deliver good news. Any weakness in the shares should be seen as a good buying opportunity.

3 Stocks I Saw On TV
Dan Fitzpatrick examines three stocks viewed on Fast Money and Mad Money. Today's stocks include Idexx Laboratories, Riverbed Technologies and Public Svc. Enterprise Grp.

Click here to watch the video.

Vet products

three segments: Companion Animal Group, Water, and Food Diagnostics Group. The Companion Animal Group segment provides various products and services, including point-of-care veterinary diagnostic products comprising rapid assays and instruments and consumables; laboratory and consulting services used by veterinarians; and veterinary pharmaceutical products. The Water segment offers Colilert, Colilert-18, and Colisure tests to detect coli-forms and E. coli in water; Enterolert, which detects enterococci in drinking and recreational waters; and Quanti-Tray, which provides users measurements of microbial contamination. The Food Diagnostics Group segment offers diagnostic tests and related instrumentation and software to detect various diseases and to monitor health status in production animals.

BUY

BUY

8 out of 9. Average return of 8.3% per trade. THe only unsuccessful trade was May, 2006 when it was down -1.4%

Health care