.floatimg-left-hort { float:left; } .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 12px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} Dear Mr. Berko:

Dear D.L.:

Would you like to own a health-care company that has increased its revenues every year since 1997, moving from $2.7 billion then to $8 billion this year? And would you like to own a health-care company that increased its annual per-share income to $2.72 from 60 cents (a nearly fivefold increase) during that same time span and built its dividend to 92 cents per share from 18 cents (more than fivefold)? And would you like to own a company that Fortune magazine recently named as one of the world’s most respected health-care companies because its corporate culture stresses high ethics and community involvement?

If so, the company you might like to own is Owens & Minor Inc. (OMI – $41.43). In 2010, management expects OMI’s net income to increase 10 percent to $3 per share and its annual dividend to increase to $1, providing shareholders with a 2.4 percent yield.

Owens & Minor is a quiet company, and few investors (even few stockbrokers) know the name. OMI was founded 127 years ago by Otho Owens and Gilmore Minor, who were employed by competing drug wholesaling firms. Since then, this Mechanicsville, Va., enterprise has grown into a 220,000-product medical and surgical supply company.

Today, OMI’s 5,300 employees deliver $8 billion worth of products from 55 warehouses to acute-care hospitals and 4,500 customers nationwide – products such as anesthesia appliances, personal patient admission items (combs, lotions, pillowcases, razors, ID cards), patient and staff apparel, various medical kits and trays, wound care, urology, operating room and maternity products, diagnostic equipment, beds, exam and treatment tables, housekeeping products, gloves, caps, gowns, orthopedic rehabilitation products, instrumentation and more.

According to a hospital administrator who is a member of our, twice-a-month nickel-dime poker game, “Nobody does it better than Owens & Minor.” He’d like to own the stock, but his board says it would be a conflict of interest.

OMI has a superb balance sheet. There are only 42 million shares outstanding and at $41.43, that’s a market cap of only $1.74 billion, so some would consider OMI a small-cap company. Long-term debt is less than $200 million; book value is about $20 a share; and total cash per share is about $1.05.

This is a superbly managed company with a loyal customer base and an efficient work force. Credit Suisse and Jeffries and Co. each have a solid “buy” on the stock, as do Goldman Sachs and Bank of America/Merrill Lynch. Wellington Fund, Vanguard, Allianz and Barclays have large positions in OMI. The Street’s consensus is that the stock could trade in the low $50s during the next 18 months.

As a very conservative, long-term investment, I can’t find a single reason not to own 200 shares of OMI if you promise to reinvest the dividends.

Please address your financial questions to Malcolm Berko, P.O. Box 1416, Boca Raton, Fla. 33429 or e-mail him at malber@adelphia.net. © Copley News Service