HCA Healthcare is an operator of healthcare facilities. It was founded in the year 1968 and is based in Nashville, Tennessee. The company owns and operates 2000 care centers and 186 hospitals across 21 US states and the UK. These facilities include emergency rooms, urgent care centers, surgery centers, and physician clinics. HCA Healthcare focuses more on urban locations. Its scale gives it unique advantages and HCA is consistently ranked among the best healthcare stocks to buy now.
Positive Performance Expectations
HCA Healthcare recently announced that it plans to return some $6 billion in government funding that it had received as part of the coronavirus relief package for the healthcare industry. HCA Healthcare has decided to do this because it is confident about its third-quarter performance to be above analyst estimates. Indeed, the company reported on October 26th its third-quarter earnings where revenue was up to $13.3 billion from $12.7 billion in 3Q2019. HCA also said that it believed that returning the taxpayers’ money was a responsible thing that they could do and that the initial level of severity of the pandemic was not existent anymore. As a sign of HCA’s financial strength, the company has $4.64 billion in cash and cash equivalents and it plans to repay back the $6 billion via its cash reserves and future cash flows from operations.
Price Action Of The Best Healthcare Stocks To Buy Right Now
Healthcare has been in the news for a while due to the pandemic. HCA Healthcare’s stock has been up 14.6% in the preceding 30 days. On a year-to-date basis, the stock is up about 7% while on a 5-year basis, the stock has jumped from $66 to $157. Humana Inc has a similar market cap to HCA Healthcare. Its stock is down 6.3% in the preceding 30 days. On a year-to-date basis, Humana is up 13.6%, and on a 5-year basis, the stock has risen from $172 to $412.
