Saturday, October 11, 2008

Sunrise Senior Living shares plunge amid expiration of short-selling ban, debt concerns

Shares of nursing home operator Sunrise Senior Living Inc. plummeted further on Thursday after already having dropped 28 percent this week.

The company's stock fell $2.68, or 27.4 percent, to $7.02. That left it down 74 percent for the year, which it began with a share price of $30.68.

While the decline came during a broad selloff on Wall Street, Morgan Keegan analyst Robert Mains said Sunrise's latest sharp drop was likely due in large part to the expiration of the three-week ban on short selling.

Sunrise had been on the no-short-sales list along with two other senior living companies, he said -- Brookdale Senior Living Inc. and Five Star Quality Care Inc., both of which shed more than 20 percent.

"They all have a fair amount of debt, and this is a market that is very skittish about debt," Mains said. "If the economy does tank, then you worry about move-in rates" at facilities that might be at least temporarily unaffordable for prospective customers, he said.

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