Digirad Corporation Comments on Fourth Quarte...( POWAY Calif. Jan. 14 /- Digirad C...),Health

POWAY, Calif., Jan. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Digirad Corporation (Nasdaq: DRAD), a leading provider of medical diagnostic imaging systems and personnel and equipment leasing services to physicians' offices, hospitals and imaging centers, today announced that results for the 2008 fourth quarter will show positive progress toward both organizational and financial turnaround goals laid out by CEO Todd Clyde following his promotion in to that role in October 2008. Indications of that progress include:

-- The Product Division was profitable for the year and for the quarter on the strength of double-digit unit and revenue growth in the fourth quarter over fourth quarter 2007. The company had established the goal of profitability for the year in the division at the beginning of 2008.

-- The Centers of Influence (COI) model, which pairs leading academic centers with a network of community practitioners to drive growth and utilization, continues to work as the more established COI locations also showed growth in the quarter over the prior year.

-- Negotiations for the sale or closure of underperforming hub locations began during the fourth quarter and are well underway. Those transactions should begin to close during the next 60 days and are expected to be complete within six months. The locations generated nearly $7 million of revenue during 2008.

-- The company's operations generated more than $2 million in cash during the 2008 fourth quarter, bolstering its cash, cash equivalents and securities to more than $28 million, or approximately $1.50/share at December 31.

Digirad CEO Todd Clyde said, "The entire organization is focused on achieving positive cash flow and profitability in the near term while driving technology progress and improving services utilization to
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