It was busy after the bell today with several high quality companies reporting.  As usual I’ll list the companies in order of their fundamental rank.

[28/30]

• Portfolio Recovery Associates (PRAA), the manager of portfolios of defaulted consumer receivables posted another very strong quarter after the bell today with earnings growing 32% and revenues growing 33% over the year ago quarter.  Both beat estimates.  Considering the outstanding results from this company for the last several years it’s surprising that the stock has remains stagnant.   It’s currently forming a long base on base pattern with resistance at 45.

• Corporate Executive Board (EXBD), the research and analysis company for corporations, is another company that continues to post solid results quarter after quarter, year after year of around 25 – 30%.  No exception in today’s report as the company beat analyst estimates by a penny and reported earnings growth of 24% with revenue growth of 29%..  Executive also raised Q4 and ’05 guidance.  The stock is currently basing with strong support at 75..

[27/30]

• Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) Blow Out Earnings!, the surgical robot manufacturer (da Vinci), blew away estimates again this quarter just as they did last quarter and beat estimates by .26/share!  Revenues came in more than 20% higher than estimates.  Shares are soaring after hours more than 25%.  The stock had been basing after the big gap up following the last earnings report and will break to all time highs on a big gap up once again tomorrow morning.

• Ultra Petroleum (UPL) Blow Out Earnings!, continues the streak of oil companies posting tremendous profit and revenue growth.  Seems like earnings growth of 100% is routine for the top oil companies these days.  Ultra smashed estimates of .32/share by posting .38/share, good for a 118% increase over the year ago quarter.  After running up 100% in just a couple months, the stock has been consolidating and is currently bouncing off the 50 day moving average.  It has held up remarkably well considering the big selling in oil recently.

[26/30]

• NutriSystem (NTRI) Blow Out Earnings!, the manufacturer of weight loss products and services, is the fastest growing company in the SelfInvestors.com database. The company retains that label after posting another huge quarter after the bell today which beat estimates by .03/share.  NutriSystem swung to a big profit in the latest quarter after posting a small loss one year ago.  Revenues soared 743%.   The stock is down more than 5% after hours, but I would expect the stock to swing to a gain before the trading day ends tomorrow.  Just some knee jerk profit taking.

• Akamai (AKAM), a provider of content delivery and application performance for ebusinesses, posted another outstanding quarter which matched estimates.  Earnings increased from the year ago period by 56% and revenues increased by 42% in the same time frame.  Akamai became profitable for the first time in ’04 and is emerging as a leading technology company.  It increased the number of customers with long term contracts by 45% from a year ago.. this from the CEO:  "Strong growth in our customer base reflects increasing trust in Akamai to accelerate the on-line delivery of mission critical content and Web-based applications by businesses and government agencies," Sagan said.   The stock is in the process of carving out a long 2 year base with overhead resistance just above 18.

• HealthExtras (HLEX), a provider of pharmacy benefits management services, posted results after the bell which matched earnings estimates of .15/share.  That’s a rise of 46% over the year ago quarter.  However, revenue growth was a bit disappointing at 16%.. it’s the first time the company has posted growth of less than 20% in a couple years.  Looking to 2006, the company is raising guidance and expect revenues to exceed 1 billion.  The stock broke out of a flat base on Oct. 14^th, but has been unable to hold those gains.  The stock bounced off the 50 day moving average today and remains in a buyable range.