Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from the line of Sarah Michelmore – Cowen and Company.
Sarah Michelmore – Cowen and Company
Jim, if you can just talk us through Alpine a little bit and just in terms of the mechanics of making that a accretive. What should we think about in terms of cost savings and at what pace? Thanks.
Jim Hawkins
Certainly, you know, the product lines fit very well together and we look for certain not only cost synergies going forward but also on the sales side by putting the sales forces together, some real benefits there.
We really don't see getting these benefits in a major way until 2010 as we typically, when we do acquisitions, like to get these synergies at the beginning of the year and put the sales forces together at that time, because we just hate to give our sales force new products, especially in Q4. They're focused on closing their year and having to take them out of the field to do training on all the Alpine products just doesn't seem productive. So we typically wait till January to do that. Thus we expect the real benefits to come in 2010.
Sarah Michelmore – Cowen and Company
And if I look at your 2010 guidance there. if I just look at what you did in Q3 and what your guidance is for Q4, it just seems like in terms of the top line you're not really anticipating any underlying organic growth. And then on the margins also if I assume that Alpine is in fact accretive during the year, it doesn't seem like you've modeled in any significant underlying increase in operating margins either. So just curious if that's just conservatism on your part, or are there other things that we should considering when we draw models? Thanks.
Jim Hawkins
Let's see, I think – I might not have this exactly right – but I think the guidance we gave has about a 5% built-in revenue growth from internal, so that I would say is certainly below our historic levels.
And I think the reason we're doing that is there is – and maybe it is a touch conservative – but there is certainly going on a lot in health care right now with the unknown of what this health care reform is going to be and knowing if people that have followed Natus, you know, we really like to be on the conservative side when there's a lot of unknowns out there.
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