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3 Stocks to Bank on the Buoyant Outpatient Home Health Industry
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The COVID-19 pandemic has been a biological crisis of unprecedented nature that has altered the very nature and dynamics of the healthcare industry. The Zacks Medical - Outpatient and Home Healthcare industry bore the brunt of lower outpatient clinic visits and struggled to provide quality care with respect to home healthcare due to the risk of exposure to the virus. However, substantial increase in vaccination drives has been helping people gradually get back to pre-pandemic normalcy. Also, rising dependence on telehealth and artificial intelligence (AI) is likely to help the industry thrive in the near term. DaVita Inc. (DVA - Free Report) , RadNet, Inc. (RDNT - Free Report) and U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. (USPH - Free Report) are likely to gain from the prospects.
Industry Description
The industry comprises companies that offer ambulatory care in an outpatient setting or at home. These companies use advanced medical technologies for diagnosis, observation, consultation, treatment and rehabilitation services. The industry participants also include operators of HMO medical centers, kidney dialysis centers, freestanding ambulatory surgical units, emergency centers and other outpatient care centers. Some of the companies in this space have been at the forefront of the COVID-19 pandemic response since 2020, by expanding access to laboratory insights to enable people lead healthier and safer lives through both molecular diagnostic and antibody serology tests, which help in the diagnosis of COVID-19 and the identification of immune response to the virus.
Major Trends Shaping the Future of Outpatient and Home Healthcare Industry
Cost Effectiveness: The primary advantage of the outpatient clinics is cost effectiveness. Outpatient medical care clinics do not retain patients for long hours (overnight) or charge exorbitantly. Notably, modern day outpatient clinics offer a broad spectrum of treatment and diagnostic options, and even minor surgical procedures. Financial incentives like health plans and government program payment policies supporting services in lower-cost care settings have also been driving outpatient care. In fact, this is the primary reason why middle-class Americans, making up more than 62% of the total population, prefer outpatient clinic visits.
Participating in Alternative Payment Models: It only seems reasonable for outpatient clinics to shift from fee-for-service (FFS) to alternative payment models (APM) with shared savings, risk, bundled payments or population-based payments. With value-based models of care steadily emerging as the future of healthcare, this shift is an ongoing parallel trend. FFS will be crucial to care organizations as a benchmark by which providers can assess alternative payment models. By obtaining the payment schedule from payers and comparing it to the organization’s FFS reimbursements from the same payer, providers can ascertain APM that would be financially the most advantageous to its operation.
AI’s Dominant Role: AI has been a roaring success in healthcare. It’s no wonder that it has taken the outpatient and home healthcare space by storm. Outpatient companies prefer bots and automated techniques for managing health information. With the help of AI, hospitals have been achieving better outcomes with patients receiving more efficient and personalized care. The outpatient industry has been generating huge profits from Electronic Health Records, Revenue Cycle Management, eLabs and ePrescriptions. Notably, Quest Diagnostics’ Quanum solutions unit is an AI platform that streamlines 20 billion laboratory data test results and other health information for population health management and clinical care.
Increased Dependence on Telehealth: The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in decline in outpatient clinic visits. Meanwhile, home healthcare providers have struggled to offer quality care due to risk of exposure to the virus. However, the impact of the pandemic can be far-reaching as it has accelerated healthcare innovation. Visits to outpatient clinics have been witnessing a rebound with the easing of stay-at-home restrictions but patients are still apprehensive about venturing out and are resorting to telehealth. Meanwhile, home healthcare can gain from the benefits provided by Medicare (and several other payers) that comprises a broad range of services, which can be delivered in a patient’s home, including post-operative and chronic wound care, rehabilitation, physical therapy. These services serve as lifelines for vulnerable patients, which include Medicare population that can suffer from complications arising from COVID-19. Moreover, home healthcare has seen a surge in utilization of the telehealth platform in response to the pandemic.
Zacks Industry Rank
The Zacks Medical - Outpatient and Home Healthcare industry falls within the broader Zacks Medical sector. It carries a Zacks Industry Rank #173, which places it in the bottom 32% of more than 250 Zacks industries.
The group’s Zacks Industry Rank, which is basically the average of the Zacks Rank of all the member stocks, indicates solid near-term prospects. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperforms the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.
Before we present a few outpatient home health stocks that you may want to consider for your portfolio, let’s take a look at the industry’s recent stock-market performance and valuation picture.
Industry's Stock Market Performance
The industry has underperformed both its sector and the Zacks S&P 500 composite in the past year.
The industry has fallen 49.7% over this period against the S&P 500’s rally of 15.4%. The broader sector lost 20.6% in the same time frame.
One Year Price Performance
Industry's Current Valuation
On the basis of the forward 12-month price-to-earnings (P/E), which is commonly used for valuing medical stocks, the industry is currently trading at 23.64X compared with the S&P 500’s 20.21X and the sector’s 19.82X.
Over the last five years, the industry has traded as high as 31.37X and as low as 16.84X, with the median being at 19.33X, as the charts below show.
Price-to-Earnings Forward Twelve Months (F12M)
Price-to-Earnings Forward Twelve Months (F12M)
3 Lucrative Outpatient and Home Healthcare Stocks
DaVita Inc.: DaVita is a leading provider of dialysis services in the United States to patients suffering from chronic kidney failure. The company delivered better-than-expected third-quarter 2021 results. It registered strong dialysis patient service revenues during the period, which is impressive. The acquisition of several dialysis centers, both within the United States and overseas, is encouraging as well. DaVita kidney care’s encouraging progress and overseas growth are key growth catalysts. DVA carries a Zacks Rank of 3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
For this Denver, CO-based company, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2022 revenues suggests growth of 3.3%. The company’s earnings yield of 7.5% compares favorably with the industry’s 3.9%.
Price and Consensus: DVA
RadNet, Inc.: RadNet, along with its subsidiaries, offers outpatient diagnostic imaging services in the United States. In the third quarter of 2021, the company saw its revenues increase 14% to $332.7 million. Recovering procedural volumes, and lower costs and sustained cost containment measures that were implemented in 2021 contributed to the company’s robust operating performance. Given the careful management of spending and liquidity, RadNet significantly decreased its financial leverage to its lowest level in the company’s history. RDNT carries a Zacks Rank of 3.
For this Los Angeles, CA-based company, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2022 revenues indicates an improvement of 5.8%. The company’s earnings growth for 2022 is projected at 2.8%.
Price and Consensus: RDNT
U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc.: U.S. Physical Therapy is the largest publicly-traded, pure-play operator of outpatient physical and occupational therapy clinics. The clinics provide pre- and post-operative care for a variety of orthopedic-related disorders and sports-related injuries, rehabilitation of injured workers and preventative care. Increase in telehealth visits and higher net rate per patient visit have been helping USPH navigate through the ongoing pandemic. U.S. Physical Therapy continues to witness strong patient volumes at robust pace. The company carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
For this Houston, TX-based based company, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2022 revenues indicates an improvement of 11.6%. The same for earnings indicates an increase of 6.1%.
Price and Consensus: USPH
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3 Stocks to Bank on the Buoyant Outpatient Home Health Industry
The COVID-19 pandemic has been a biological crisis of unprecedented nature that has altered the very nature and dynamics of the healthcare industry. The Zacks Medical - Outpatient and Home Healthcare industry bore the brunt of lower outpatient clinic visits and struggled to provide quality care with respect to home healthcare due to the risk of exposure to the virus. However, substantial increase in vaccination drives has been helping people gradually get back to pre-pandemic normalcy. Also, rising dependence on telehealth and artificial intelligence (AI) is likely to help the industry thrive in the near term. DaVita Inc. (DVA - Free Report) , RadNet, Inc. (RDNT - Free Report) and U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. (USPH - Free Report) are likely to gain from the prospects.
Industry Description
The industry comprises companies that offer ambulatory care in an outpatient setting or at home. These companies use advanced medical technologies for diagnosis, observation, consultation, treatment and rehabilitation services. The industry participants also include operators of HMO medical centers, kidney dialysis centers, freestanding ambulatory surgical units, emergency centers and other outpatient care centers. Some of the companies in this space have been at the forefront of the COVID-19 pandemic response since 2020, by expanding access to laboratory insights to enable people lead healthier and safer lives through both molecular diagnostic and antibody serology tests, which help in the diagnosis of COVID-19 and the identification of immune response to the virus.
Major Trends Shaping the Future of Outpatient and Home Healthcare Industry
Cost Effectiveness: The primary advantage of the outpatient clinics is cost effectiveness. Outpatient medical care clinics do not retain patients for long hours (overnight) or charge exorbitantly. Notably, modern day outpatient clinics offer a broad spectrum of treatment and diagnostic options, and even minor surgical procedures. Financial incentives like health plans and government program payment policies supporting services in lower-cost care settings have also been driving outpatient care. In fact, this is the primary reason why middle-class Americans, making up more than 62% of the total population, prefer outpatient clinic visits.
Participating in Alternative Payment Models: It only seems reasonable for outpatient clinics to shift from fee-for-service (FFS) to alternative payment models (APM) with shared savings, risk, bundled payments or population-based payments. With value-based models of care steadily emerging as the future of healthcare, this shift is an ongoing parallel trend. FFS will be crucial to care organizations as a benchmark by which providers can assess alternative payment models. By obtaining the payment schedule from payers and comparing it to the organization’s FFS reimbursements from the same payer, providers can ascertain APM that would be financially the most advantageous to its operation.
AI’s Dominant Role: AI has been a roaring success in healthcare. It’s no wonder that it has taken the outpatient and home healthcare space by storm. Outpatient companies prefer bots and automated techniques for managing health information. With the help of AI, hospitals have been achieving better outcomes with patients receiving more efficient and personalized care. The outpatient industry has been generating huge profits from Electronic Health Records, Revenue Cycle Management, eLabs and ePrescriptions. Notably, Quest Diagnostics’ Quanum solutions unit is an AI platform that streamlines 20 billion laboratory data test results and other health information for population health management and clinical care.
Increased Dependence on Telehealth: The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in decline in outpatient clinic visits. Meanwhile, home healthcare providers have struggled to offer quality care due to risk of exposure to the virus. However, the impact of the pandemic can be far-reaching as it has accelerated healthcare innovation. Visits to outpatient clinics have been witnessing a rebound with the easing of stay-at-home restrictions but patients are still apprehensive about venturing out and are resorting to telehealth. Meanwhile, home healthcare can gain from the benefits provided by Medicare (and several other payers) that comprises a broad range of services, which can be delivered in a patient’s home, including post-operative and chronic wound care, rehabilitation, physical therapy. These services serve as lifelines for vulnerable patients, which include Medicare population that can suffer from complications arising from COVID-19. Moreover, home healthcare has seen a surge in utilization of the telehealth platform in response to the pandemic.
Zacks Industry Rank
The Zacks Medical - Outpatient and Home Healthcare industry falls within the broader Zacks Medical sector. It carries a Zacks Industry Rank #173, which places it in the bottom 32% of more than 250 Zacks industries.
The group’s Zacks Industry Rank, which is basically the average of the Zacks Rank of all the member stocks, indicates solid near-term prospects. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperforms the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.
Before we present a few outpatient home health stocks that you may want to consider for your portfolio, let’s take a look at the industry’s recent stock-market performance and valuation picture.
Industry's Stock Market Performance
The industry has underperformed both its sector and the Zacks S&P 500 composite in the past year.
The industry has fallen 49.7% over this period against the S&P 500’s rally of 15.4%. The broader sector lost 20.6% in the same time frame.
One Year Price Performance
Industry's Current Valuation
On the basis of the forward 12-month price-to-earnings (P/E), which is commonly used for valuing medical stocks, the industry is currently trading at 23.64X compared with the S&P 500’s 20.21X and the sector’s 19.82X.
Over the last five years, the industry has traded as high as 31.37X and as low as 16.84X, with the median being at 19.33X, as the charts below show.
Price-to-Earnings Forward Twelve Months (F12M)
Price-to-Earnings Forward Twelve Months (F12M)
3 Lucrative Outpatient and Home Healthcare Stocks
DaVita Inc.: DaVita is a leading provider of dialysis services in the United States to patients suffering from chronic kidney failure. The company delivered better-than-expected third-quarter 2021 results. It registered strong dialysis patient service revenues during the period, which is impressive. The acquisition of several dialysis centers, both within the United States and overseas, is encouraging as well. DaVita kidney care’s encouraging progress and overseas growth are key growth catalysts. DVA carries a Zacks Rank of 3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
For this Denver, CO-based company, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2022 revenues suggests growth of 3.3%. The company’s earnings yield of 7.5% compares favorably with the industry’s 3.9%.
Price and Consensus: DVA
RadNet, Inc.: RadNet, along with its subsidiaries, offers outpatient diagnostic imaging services in the United States. In the third quarter of 2021, the company saw its revenues increase 14% to $332.7 million. Recovering procedural volumes, and lower costs and sustained cost containment measures that were implemented in 2021 contributed to the company’s robust operating
performance. Given the careful management of spending and liquidity, RadNet significantly decreased its financial leverage to its lowest level in the company’s history. RDNT carries a Zacks Rank of 3.
For this Los Angeles, CA-based company, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2022 revenues indicates an improvement of 5.8%. The company’s earnings growth for 2022 is projected at 2.8%.
Price and Consensus: RDNT
U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc.: U.S. Physical Therapy is the largest publicly-traded, pure-play operator of outpatient physical and occupational therapy clinics. The clinics provide pre- and post-operative care for a variety of orthopedic-related disorders and sports-related injuries, rehabilitation of injured workers and preventative care. Increase in telehealth visits and higher net rate per patient visit have been helping USPH navigate through the ongoing pandemic. U.S. Physical Therapy continues to witness strong patient volumes at robust pace. The company carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
For this Houston, TX-based based company, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2022 revenues indicates an improvement of 11.6%. The same for earnings indicates an increase of 6.1%.
Price and Consensus: USPH