Shares of Tennessee-based healthcare services provider HCA Healthcare (HCA) jumped 14.4% and closed at $248.90 on Tuesday after the company reported impressive second-quarter financial results. HCA runs urgent care centers, surgery centers and emergency rooms, and psychiatric and general hospitals.
Quarterly earnings per share (EPS) stood at $4.36, beating analysts’ expectations of $3.16. (See HCA stock chart on TipRanks)
Revenues increased to $14.44 billion from $11.1 billion in the second quarter of 2020. The numbers surpassed the Street estimates of $13.61 billion. Same facility admissions surged 17.5% year-over-year.
The CEO of HCA Healthcare, Sam Hazen, said, “We continue to invest aggressively in our strategic agenda, which is building greater clinical capabilities to serve our communities while also developing more comprehensive enterprise resources to support caregivers and differentiate our local networks.”
The company has revised the guidance for 2021 and expects its revenues to be in the range of $57 billion to $58 billion. It expects EPS to fall between $16.30 and $17.10.
Following the second-quarter results, Citigroup analyst Ralph Giacobbe maintained a Hold rating on the stock and raised the price target to $268 from $215 (7.7% upside potential). In a research note to investors, the analyst said, “The company reported an impressive Q2 with hefty upside that was more than carried through to 2021 guidance.”
Overall, the stock has a Strong Buy consensus based on 13 Buys and 2 Holds. The average HCA Healthcare price target of $257.1 implies 3.3% upside potential. Shares have gained 127.7% over the past year.
According to TipRanks’ Smart Score rating system, HCA scores an 8 out of 10, suggesting that the stock is likely to outperform market averages.
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