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Investing.com - Bernstein SocGen Group has raised its price target on HCA Healthcare Inc (NYSE:HCA) to $417.00 from $404.00 while maintaining a Market Perform rating. The healthcare giant, currently valued at $94.3 billion, has seen 13 analysts revise their earnings estimates upward for the upcoming period, according to InvestingPro data.
The price target increase follows HCA’s second-quarter results, which showed adjusted EBITDA of $3,849 million, exceeding consensus estimates by 4%. The company’s trailing twelve-month EBITDA now stands at $14.5 billion, with an impressive financial health score of "GREAT" on InvestingPro. Despite this outperformance, Bernstein noted decelerating patient volumes in the quarter.
Same-store equivalent admissions grew 1.7%, which was 120 basis points below consensus expectations of 2.9%. According to Bernstein, this slowdown aligns with their thesis of normalization in healthcare utilization following the COVID-induced labor supply shock and recovery.
HCA has responded to these trends by adjusting its full-year 2025 guidance, raising revenue and adjusted EBITDA projections by 90 basis points and 200 basis points at the midpoint, respectively. The company simultaneously lowered its equivalent admissions growth guidance by 100 basis points to a range of 2%-3%, down from the previous 3%-4%.
Bernstein maintains its Market Perform rating on HCA, citing the company’s effective guidance for slower volume, while noting potential risks to margins from compensation ratios and policy impacts on bad debt, offset by management’s demonstrated ability to outperform on operating margins. Trading at a P/E ratio of 16.77x and near its 52-week high, InvestingPro analysis suggests the stock is slightly undervalued based on its comprehensive Fair Value model.
In other recent news, HCA Healthcare Inc. reported strong financial results for the second quarter of 2025, surpassing both earnings and revenue forecasts. The company achieved earnings per share of $6.84, which was higher than the expected $6.27, representing a 9.09% positive surprise. Revenue also came in above expectations at $18.61 billion, slightly surpassing the anticipated $18.49 billion. Despite these positive financial results, Wolfe Research downgraded HCA Healthcare from Outperform to Peerperform. The downgrade was attributed to concerns about potential multi-year payer mix pressures, with specific focus on Exchange pressure anticipated in 2026 and Provider Tax pressure expected in 2028 and beyond. These recent developments are important for investors to consider when evaluating HCA Healthcare’s future prospects.
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