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Athena






Okay folks..listen up. I applied for a position with Athena. I currently work for QUest. I have 5.5 years experience as a Sales Rep. My base is between 65 - 78 if I can get the position. Sharpen your pencils.
Also, the perks are WAY better...time off, vacation time, etc. I look forward to me last day here.
 








Why are we buying this piece of crap lab?

Probably because you can't get the tests they offer anywhere else, they will take the technology Athena created and put it into each Nichols site and shut down Athena in a few years.

Smart move, better than buying a regional lab or any other niche lab out there. Lab Corp bought Genzyme....big fucking deal....they are a dime a dozen pathology lab. Athena is one of a kind.
 


Okay folks..listen up. I applied for a position with Athena. I currently work for QUest. I have 5.5 years experience as a Sales Rep. My base is between 65 - 78 if I can get the position. Sharpen your pencils.
Also, the perks are WAY better...time off, vacation time, etc. I look forward to me last day here.

Soooooo....

Did you get the job?
 


Fisher Scientific paid 286m for Athena in 2006, Quest paid 740m... Quest got screwed! They paid 6.7 times revenue.

They are also buying back 15.4 million shares from GSK for a total of $835m. GSK sees the writing on the wall and are bailing out.

All this and they can only offer 1.5% merit increase to their employees.
 


Fisher Scientific paid 286m for Athena in 2006, Quest paid 740m... Quest got screwed! They paid 6.7 times revenue.

They are also buying back 15.4 million shares from GSK for a total of $835m. GSK sees the writing on the wall and are bailing out.

All this and they can only offer 1.5% merit increase to their employees.

You've got to look long term on this one. Quest buys Athena, but unlike the past the acquired clients cannot leave--there is nowhere else in the world to get these tests. As far as what Fisher paid 5 years ago, who cares? Athena's test menu has expanded three times what it used to be, Quest paid less than 3 times what Fisher did....easy to manipulate numbers to state your point, huh?

The true impact of the acquisition will begin to grow the company in 2012-mark my words.

Also, quit bitching about your raise....at least you got one. Go fucking sell something already.
 


It's amazing how many financial managers come to this board. An earlier poster wrote how Athena has 60% margin. Please, tell us how you came to this number as they are privately held and do not disclose their books. Not to mention that a 60% margin is nearly impossible in almost any industry. As for the poster that stated Quest got screwed by paying 6.7x revenue, again, you need to learn a few things. If you look at the growth rate of Athena, and according to Thermo, it has been growing, you have to look at future expected earnings, not past. This would bring that multiple down closer to 5 which is a good buy for having proprietary testing. Worry about learning a little about the lab industry before you attest to being a financial wiz, because at this point, you are failing at both.
 


It's amazing how many financial managers come to this board. An earlier poster wrote how Athena has 60% margin. Please, tell us how you came to this number as they are privately held and do not disclose their books. Not to mention that a 60% margin is nearly impossible in almost any industry. As for the poster that stated Quest got screwed by paying 6.7x revenue, again, you need to learn a few things. If you look at the growth rate of Athena, and according to Thermo, it has been growing, you have to look at future expected earnings, not past. This would bring that multiple down closer to 5 which is a good buy for having proprietary testing. Worry about learning a little about the lab industry before you attest to being a financial wiz, because at this point, you are failing at both.

Not the original poster or am I a financial manager, but this person might have been referring to "contribution" margin opposed to "profit" margin. A 60% CM is easy to achieve when you're selling non-discountable and highly reimbursable tests. You are privy to this knowledge if you’ve worked in various roles at Athena – including sales.
 


Not the original poster or am I a financial manager, but this person might have been referring to "contribution" margin opposed to "profit" margin. A 60% CM is easy to achieve when you're selling non-discountable and highly reimbursable tests. You are privy to this knowledge if you’ve worked in various roles at Athena – including sales.
Contribution margin would make no sense to include here. When you are considering an acquisition, you need to understand what the net profit is, not what the variable profit of the product line is. Even so, I highly doubt that Athena works on a 60% contribution margin unless they either don't pay commission, or see that as a fixed cost which is an accounting error. Either way, this information would not be privy to sales reps in any company from a national perspective, only possibly from the sales rep's own territory as it incorporates COGS which isn't divulged.
 




In my opinion Quest would have been better off taking over one of the regional labs that they're loosing so much business to.. instead of paying so much for Athena

Been there done that. The clients all leave because they hate Quest....they can't leave Athena since they cannot get those tests anywhere else. Screw regional labs, no money there. Imagine the inter-company discounts on Athena testing. It will be like printing money considering the volume we send to Athena (Quest is their largest client).
 



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