Jefferies upgrades Cross Country on robust demand for stand-in nurses

Cross Country Healthcare

27/01/2022 11:22

** Brokerage Jefferies upgrades shares of staffing company 
Cross Country Healthcare  CCRN.O  to "buy" from "hold"
    ** Believes demand for temporary nurse staffers and pricing
is durable and will remain strong even in a post-COVID world 
    ** Hospitals have been struggling with filling nursing jobs
and have had to pay more to recruit and retain nurses
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2RI2TL
   ** Nursing fundamentals were already pressured pre-COVID as
an aging nurse population was going to put pressure on labor
supply - Jefferies
    ** Analyst Brian Tanquilut says the pandemic caused nurse
burnout, workforce exits, and labor force shifts to non-hospital
settings that will last even after COVID dissipates
    ** In a separate note to clients, Tanquilut says a survey of
50 hospital execs indicate Omicron has not peaked yet and that
staffing shortages will persist longer
    ** CCRN stock nearly doubled in the past 12 months 

 (Reporting by Manas Mishra)
 ((Manas.Mishra@thomsonreuters.com;
www.twitter.com/Manaswrites15))