Back on Aug. 25, Cramer talked with Allscripts Chairman and CEO Glenn Tullman about an upcoming dividend payout that could hurt the stock. Sure enough, there’s been a precipitous drop over the past couple of weeks for just that reason.
Tullman returned to Mad Money Friday to fill in investors on the Allscripts’ latest happenings; most importantly that the decline does not represent a drop off in the business, but rather reflects that dividend payout. A quick look at a 30-day chart might confuse unknowing investors, so it’s important to be clear.
So what happened? Allscripts has new ownership. Mysis PLC, which trades on the London exchange, merged its Mysis Healthcare Systems division with Allscripts and, for an addition $330 million, took at 54.5% stake in the company. The dividend merger was a payout of this merger.
But the newly combined companies have a “shared vision,” Tullman said, and investors shouldn’t be worried about integration problems. So Allscripts, on top of the $70 million already invested in research and development and the one out of three doctors who use the company’s e-prescribing software, now has a better base to sell into and that should accelerate growth over time.
But why not just keep that money instead of paying that dividend?
“We like to take care of our shareholders,” Tullman said, “and we have what we need to grow today.”
Cramer is bullish on Allscripts, a stock he called “a pure Barack Obama play” because the company fits into the Democrat’s plans to cut healthcare costs.
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