Cerner's a Burner: Fool by Numbers

On Feb. 1, Cerner (Nasdaq: CERN  ) , which makes health-care information software, released fourth-quarter earnings for the period ended Dec. 31.

• Sales and profits were up nicely, but operating cash flow decreased by 26%.
• Management says new business bookings in the first quarter of 2007 should be about 12% higher than Q1 of 2006, and revenue growth should hit the 12% to 14% range.
• Out of five stars, our Motley Fool CAPS players give Cerner three. Feel free to add your opinion!

(Figures in millions, except per-share data)

Income Statement Highlights

	Q4 2006	Q4 2005	Change
Sales	$380.8	$325.8	16.9%
Net Profit	$39.1	$27.4	43.0%
EPS	$0.48	$0.34	41.2%
Diluted Shares	82.3	80.8	1.8%

Get back to basics with a look at the income statement.

Margin Checkup

	Q4 2006	Q4 2005	Change*
Gross Margin	76.6%	77.2%	(0.5)
Operating Margin	13.2%	14.2%	(1.0)
Net Margin	10.3%	8.4%	1.9

*Expressed in percentage points.

Margins are the earnings engine. See how they work.

Balance Sheet Highlights

Assets	Q4 2006	Q4 2005	Change
Cash + ST Invest.	$308.8	$274.3	12.6%
Accounts Rec.	$361.4	$317.0	14.0%
Inventory	$18.1	$9.6	88.7%

Liabilities	Q4 2006	Q4 2005	Change
Accounts Payable	$79.7	$65.4	22.0%
Long-Term Debt	$187.4	$194.3	(3.5%)

Learn the ways of the balance sheet.

Cash Flow Highlights

	Q4 2006	Q4 2005	Change
Cash From Ops.	$69.0	$93.3	(26.0%)

Find out why Fools always follow the money.

Related companies:

• Emdeon (Nasdaq: HLTH  )
• TriZetto (Nasdaq: TZIX  )
• Merge (Nasdaq: MRGE  )
• Healthaxis (Nasdaq: HAXS  )
• NightHawk Radiology (Nasdaq: NHWK  )

Related Foolishness:

• Investing in Your Backyard: Kansas City
• Emdeon's Checkup: Fool by Numbers
• Best Small Cap: Quality Systems

Need new ideas for your money? Investors like you rate thousands of stocks on Motley Fool CAPS to help you with your own stock selections. It's fun --and it's free.

Fool by Numbers is designed to give you the raw earnings information in a timely fashion, putting all the numbers you need in one easy-to-read place. But at The Motley Fool, we believe numbers tell only part of the story, so check Fool.com for more of our in-depth discussion of what the numbers mean. This data has been provided by Netscribes. To provide feedback on this article, please click on the "feedback" button below.