In a report released today, Michael Wiederhorn from Oppenheimer maintained a Buy rating on HCA Healthcare Inc (HCA), with a price target of $142. The company’s shares opened today at $135.
Wiederhorn observed:
“HCA reported Q4:18 adj. EBITDA of $2.508B and EPS of $3.01, handily topping OPCO/Street estimates of $2.37B/$2.412B and $2.56/$2.55, respectively. Adj. EBITDA benefited by $49M ($0.11/shr) from an insurance recovery, which was partially offset by a $0.07 hurricane impact. HCA also recognized $67M tax benefit ($0.19/shr) due to balance sheet adjustments. Ex-items, EPS would have been $2.79, still topping Street expectations. The strong results were driven by 6.4% same- store revenue growth, fueled by 4.4% pricing and 1.9% admissions. Following the quarter, HCA issued FY2019 adj. EBITDA guidance of $9.35-9.75B (OPCO/Street: $9.425B/$9.442B) and adj. EPS of $9.60-10.20 (OPCO/Street: $10.16). The outlook implies 6.7% EBITDA y-y growth. Overall, HCA produced another strong quarter, as it navigates the headwinds of the challenging hospital industry.”
According to TipRanks.com, Wiederhorn is a top 100 analyst with an average return of 14.7% and a 68.6% success rate. Wiederhorn covers the Services sector, focusing on stocks such as Cross Country Healthcare, Addus Homecare Corp, and Community Health.
HCA Healthcare Inc has an analyst consensus of Strong Buy, with a price target consensus of $155.40, a 15.1% upside from current levels. In a report issued on January 24, Robert W. Baird also reiterated a Buy rating on the stock with a $155 price target.
See today’s analyst top recommended stocks >>
Based on HCA Healthcare Inc’s latest earnings release for the quarter ending September 30, the company reported a quarterly revenue of $11.45 billion and net profit of $759 million. In comparison, last year the company earned revenue of $11.56 billion and had a net profit of $474 million.
Based on the recent corporate insider activity of 125 insiders, corporate insider sentiment is negative on the stock.
TipRanks has tracked 36,000 company insiders and found that a few of them are better than others when it comes to timing their transactions. See which 3 stocks are most likely to make moves following their insider activities.
HCA Healthcare, Inc. is a health care services company, which engages in operating hospitals, freestanding surgery centers and emergency rooms, and urgent care centers. It offers a full range of services to accommodate such medical specialties as internal medicine, general surgery, cardiology, oncology, neurosurgery, orthopedics and obstetrics, as well as diagnostic and emergency services. The company was founded on November 22, 2010 and is headquartered in Nashville, TN.
