Recently, United American Healthcare (Symbol: UAHC) was touted on TV as a stock to own. Through the magic of TV promotion, the stock has risen roughly 10% since then. But, is this really a stock to own or is the increase just typical temporary fluff?

UAHC has rebounded from its 52-week low of $2.77 and is now being traded at $4.74—as of close on Tuesday, June 19. It’s currently at an astounding P/E ratio of 59.3.

While healthcare is a growing field, my real question with this stock is growth. It’s currently operating in the Tennessee market, and growth appears to be sluggish.

The stock is down 46.8% in 2007 and it looks to have stabilized around the $4 mark. While the average volume is 36.5 thousand daily, that number was increased by double today—likely from the TV exposure. Is this stock primed for a sell off? If so, it might be best to wait and get the sale price.

The biggest thing UAHC has going for it is the lack of debt. They’ve increased marketing for their MA-SNP plan, but it’s been a failure thus far. It’s this activity that led to a reported net loss.

On the May 03, 2007 conference call, United American Healthcare CEO William C. Brooks said that their marketing and sales efforts were increasing and will include TV, radio, Internet, print and other methods. I’m expecting to see higher expenses because of these increased marketing and sales efforts.

In a press release, Brooks said, “While early enrollment in our MA-SNP has been less than we expected, we still believe in the long-term growth prospects of the model.”

While there are 12,500 eligible beneficiaries in the UAHC-TN member population in Shelby County, the program has only enrolled 160 members, Brooks said.

As of last year, there were 113,951 UAHC-TN members and 111,626 of those members were on Medicaid. UAHC-TN accounts for nearly all the company’s revenue (99.7% in 2006).