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If You Invested $1000 in HCA Holdings a Decade Ago, This is How Much It'd Be Worth Now

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How much a stock's price changes over time is a significant driver for most investors. Not only can price performance impact your portfolio, but it can help you compare investment results across sectors and industries as well.

The fear of missing out, or FOMO, also plays a factor in investing, especially with particular tech giants, as well as popular consumer-facing stocks.

What if you'd invested in HCA Holdings (HCA - Free Report) ten years ago? It may not have been easy to hold on to HCA for all that time, but if you did, how much would your investment be worth today?

HCA Holdings' Business In-Depth

With that in mind, let's take a look at HCA Holdings' main business drivers.

Effective May 8, 2017, the company’s name was changed to HCA Healthcare, Inc.  from HCA Holdings, Inc. It is the largest non-governmental operator of acute care hospitals in the U.S. Headquartered in Nashville, TN, it operates hospitals and related health care entities.

At the end of 2020, the company  operated 185 hospitals, comprised of 178 general, acute care hospitals; five psychiatric hospitals; and two rehabilitation hospitals. The company also operated 121 freestanding surgery centers and 21 freestanding endoscopy centers. Its business is spread across 20 states and England.

The general, acute care hospitals also provide outpatient services such as outpatient surgery, laboratory, radiology, respiratory therapy, cardiology and physical therapy

It operates in two geographically organized groups – the National and American Groups.

The National Group includes 96 hospitals across Alaska, California, Florida, southern Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, northern Kentucky, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, South Carolina, Utah and Virginia.

The American Group includes 82 hospitals across Colorado, northern Georgia, Kansas, southern Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Tennessee and Texas. The company also operates six hospitals in England that are included in the Corporate and Other group.

The company's general, acute care hospitals with 48,492 licensed beds provide a wide range of services to cater to different medical specialties, such as internal medicine, general surgery, cardiology, oncology, neurosurgery, orthopedics and obstetrics as well as diagnostic and emergency services. As of Dec 31, 2020, HCA Healthcare’s five psychiatric hospitals with 593 licensed beds offered a full range of mental health care services through inpatient, partial hospitalization and outpatient settings.

Bottom Line

Putting together a successful investment portfolio takes a combination of research, patience, and a little bit of risk. For HCA Holdings, if you bought shares a decade ago, you're likely feeling really good about your investment today.

A $1000 investment made in March 2011 would be worth $6,087.08, or a 508.71% gain, as of March 15, 2021, according to our calculations. Investors should note that this return excludes dividends but includes price increases.

The S&P 500 rose 202.34% and the price of gold increased 18.51% over the same time frame in comparison.

Analysts are forecasting more upside for HCA too.

HCA Healthcare’s multiple buyouts have helped the company increase its patient volumes, enabled network expansion and added hospitals to its portfolio. The company has also taken up cost curbing measures, which would likely aid margins. Its shares have underperformed its industry in a year's time. Nevertheless, with the rise in usage of telehealth medicine, the company expanded its telemedicine product offerings. Given the current scenario, we expect this business to continue performing well because of high demand. However, the company escalating operating expenses persistently weigh on the margins. High leverage is another concern. The COVID-19 pressure on revenues also bothers. Its fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of $4.13 per share beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 13.8% and improved 33.7% year over year on higher revenues.

The stock has jumped 7.91% over the past four weeks. Additionally, no earnings estimate has gone lower in the past two months, compared to 9 higher, for fiscal 2021; the consensus estimate has moved up as well.


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