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HCA Healthcare (HCA) closed at $240.51 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.8% move from the prior day.
HCA Healthcare (HCA) closed at $240.51 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.8% move from the prior day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500’s daily gain of 0.31%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.1%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.48%.
Heading into today, shares of the hospital operator had lost 3.06% over the past month, outpacing the Medical sector’s loss of 3.92% and lagging the S&P 500’s loss of 0.04% in that time.
HCA Healthcare will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. On that day, HCA Healthcare is projected to report earnings of $4.57 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 10.65%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $15.38 billion, up 7.58% from the prior-year quarter.
Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $17.89 per share and revenue of $59.12 billion. These totals would mark changes of +63.68% and +14.73%, respectively, from last year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for HCA Healthcare. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company’s business and profitability.
Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.
The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. HCA Healthcare is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Looking at its valuation, HCA Healthcare is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 13.34. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 12.59, so we one might conclude that HCA Healthcare is trading at a premium comparatively.
Meanwhile, HCA’s PEG ratio is currently 1.17. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company’s expected earnings growth rate into account. The Medical – Hospital industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.56 as of yesterday’s close.
The Medical – Hospital industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 118, putting it in the top 47% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.
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Daniel Laboe
Benjamin Rains
Zacks Equity Research
Daniel Laboe
John Rossheim
Benjamin Rains
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