Irvine-based Quality Systems Inc.’s stock jumped on an analyst’s upgrade and on Wall Street’s larger upturn Thursday.
Shares of Quality, which makes software that doctors and dentists use to manage their practices, rose 6% with a market value of $1.3 billion in Thursday New York trading.
Raymond James & Co. analyst Alexander Draper upgraded Quality to “market perform” from “underperform.” Draper said he upgraded the stock because Quality’s sales force had done well in taking advantage of opportunities from the government’s stimulus package.
Draper said although he continued to expect “some lumpiness” in Quality’s 2009 results, his concerns over what he called “material missteps” had been lessened.
He said that while he felt Quality’s shares, which have traded at $25.70 to $48.46 during the past 52 weeks, were too expensive to recommend buying, “investors currently appear willing to pay a market premium for exposure to (President) Obama stimulus funds, as well as (appear) able to overlook short-term choppiness.”
Analysts have said that Obama’s stimulus package, which includes up to $20 billion to stimulate healthcare information technology, would be a boon to Quality and others in its market.
