Pre-Paid Legal Stock (NYSE:PPD) Hits Record $70 a Share

Last Monday, July 9, Pre-Paid Legal's stock (NYSE:PPD - quote) hit an all-time high, closing at $70.10. The price held through the week, finishing the week at $70.56.

Analyst Bob Flaherty offers his analysis on MarketWatch:

[T]he secret short sellers have finally been defeated and are in full retreat as PPD shares have hit record levels and the once bloated short position of 11.7 million shares has shrunk 88% to only 1.4 million shares.

Of course, it might have had something to do with the July 2nd Q2 membership and recruiting results:

Our total active membership fees in force increased approximately 3% during the last year and continue our trend of increasing our membership fees. Membership persistency rate (defined as the number of memberships in force at the end of a 12 month period as a percentage of the total of memberships in force at the beginning of such period, plus new memberships sold during such period) was 72.7% for the 12 month period ended June 30, 2007.

And the fact that the company is buying back its own stock (usually a good sign):

Our second quarter 2007 corporate finance focus has again been on share repurchases.  During the 2nd quarter, we returned $11.0 million to shareholders through the repurchase of 185,815 shares of common stock, at an average per share price of $59.44.  Since April 1999, we have returned $321.0 million to shareholders through the purchase of 11.9 million shares, average price of $27.00 per share, and $17.1 million in dividends for a combined total of $338.1 million representing more than 110 percent of our net earnings during the same timeframe.

PPL is one of only a handful of network marketing companies that is publicly traded and providing this level of business and financial transparency.

Comments

[Jerry]

With stock prices like that you need to take a second look at this company. We all need insurance against any unforeseen legal issues. This is a great concept - selling pre-paid legal assistance.

Jerry
www.leads4insurance.com

[Prepaid Legal]

This is great for PPL. I am looking for someone that can write a stellar review for PrePaid Legal Services. From the Standpoint of the customer, a lawyer, and a reprsentative. Perferrable someone that has had many years of experience dealing with all 3 areas. If interested, let me know and we can discuss payment.

Patrick
psemar@verizon.net

[Ryan]

Hey I remember this day very well...I was so proud...The only thing I dont like about PrePaid Legal is that they do not teach their associates how to build their business online.

[J.R. Jackson]

This is an old article.

If you look at their recruiting numbers they had a very bad year in 2007!

I was actually a rep with PPL and recruited 53 associates in one month and had a team of thousands of associates all over the United States and Canada BUT I saw the writing on the wall and got out!

My blog teaches you what I did to recruit 53 associates in one month.

J.R. Jackson
http://www.JRJackson.com

[j.r. jackson watch]

J.R. Jackson, did you really quit pre-paid legal, or were you kicked out when they found out about your little Streamline International scam back in the late 1990's? You know, the one the U.S. Government sued you over?!? I can't believe that in 2008, you're still scamming people on the Internet. At least the Google/Internet trail on you is growing deeper and deeper by the day. Your resume scam, where you used aliases like "Steve Allred" and fake company names to scam people, are now well known too.

How much longer you think you're going to be able to pull this crap off, J.R. Jackson? And is the FBI in Utah asleep? How come they haven't kicked in your door yet?

Oh well, justice does seem to have a way of catching up to you. Doesn't it, J.R.?

[Erica (prepaid legal)]

PrePaid Legal dropped from $70 to $43 in a year. I'd say it's time to scoop up more shares! If you don't have prepaid legal by now, you just don't rock!

http://www.valuelegalplans.com

[Legal Financial Services]

After reading this blog we at Legal Financial Services believe its now or never.