Electronic health record vendor athenahealth late Thursday posted a second quarter profit of $9.9 million due to a 15 percent jump in revenue compared to the prior year.
The company pointed at expanding population health, ambulatory and hospital services as contributors to the $301.1 million in total revenue during the quarter, an increase from $261.9 million last year.
[Also: Is a takeover of athenahealth inevitable?]
Athenahealth’s profit followed a 2017 first quarter loss of $1.4 million and a $1.9 million loss in the second quarter of 2016.
The cloud services vendor also posted the revenue gains in a quarter that saw activist investor Paul Singer’s Elliott Ventures buy nearly 10 percent of the company’s stock, leading to speculation a sale or takeover of athenahealth might be in the future.
[Also: Former athenahealth CFO joins Arcadia Healthcare Solutions]
Financial analysts even suggested that Apple could or perhaps should buy athenahealth as a way to gain a foothold in the healthcare market. CEO Jonathan Bush called those rumors baseless.
Between the first quarter’s close and athenahealth announcing the increased earnings, its chief financial officer, Karl Stubelis, left the company to take the CFO post at Arcadia Healthcare Solutions and board member Jack Kane stepped in as athenhealth’s interim CFO.
Athenahealth’s stock was up more than 6 percent Friday on the news, trading at about $152 per share.
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