HCA guidance cut sparks selloff among hospital peers
Apr. 22, 2022 8:41 AM ETHCA Healthcare, Inc. (HCA)UHS, CYH, THCBy: Dulan Lokuwithana, SA News Editor4 Comments
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- Major hospital operators are trading lower in the premarket Friday after HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA), one of the largest in the business, trimmed its 2022 guidance with its 1Q 2022 earnings.
- While HCA's (HCA) revenue for the period came ahead of expectations, earnings stopped short of the consensus as Chief Executive Sam Hazen cited pressure from labor costs.
- “In the first quarter, we had a number of positive volume and revenue indicators. Unfortunately, they were offset by higher than expected inflationary pressures on labor costs,” he said.
- While HCA has lost ~11%, other notable decliners, Universal Health Services (UHS), and Community Health Systems (CYH), have dropped ~4% and ~6%, respectively.
- Meanwhile, Tenet Healthcare (THC) has lost ~4% as investors look past the company’s decision to keep its 2022 outlook unchanged with its 1Q 2022 results on Wednesday.