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Here's Why You Should Hold DaVita Stock in Your Portfolio for Now

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Key Takeaways

  • DVA benefits from its integrated kidney care model and international expansion.
  • DaVita is expanding across Europe and Asia, adding centers via acquisitions and partnerships.
  • DVA faces margin pressure risk as it shifts from commercial insurance to Medicare and Medicaid.

DaVita Inc. (DVA - Free Report) has been gaining from its business model. The optimism, led by a decent third-quarter 2025 performance and the overseas growth, is expected to contribute further. However, concerns regarding its dependence on commercial payers persist.

In the six-months period, this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock has lost 12.8% against the industry's 2.5% growth and the S&P 500's 16.2% increase.

The renowned global comprehensive kidney care provider has a market capitalization of $8.33 billion. The company projects 12.6% growth for the next five years and expects to maintain its strong performance going forward. DaVita’s earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the trailing four quarters and missed once, the average surprise being 0.3%.

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Upsides

Business Model: DaVita’s patient-centric model integrates a broad kidney care platform to expand patient choice across care settings and treatment modalities. As value-based arrangements gain traction in kidney care, collaboration among nephrologists, providers and transplant programs is deepening, enabling better care coordination and earlier clinical intervention. DaVita’s Integrated Kidney Care business actively participates in CMMI’s Comprehensive Kidney Care Contracting model, which focuses on managing late-stage CKD and ESKD patients to slow disease progression, increase home dialysis adoption and encourage transplants.

The company also operates dialysis centers through joint ventures in which it typically holds controlling stakes, while partners such as nephrologists, hospitals and other healthcare providers own minority interests. Many of DaVita’s outpatient centers support home hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis, helping eligible patients receive treatment at home.

Overseas Growth: DaVita is steadily expanding in the international markets. In the past few years, the company has strengthened its position in the emerging and developing markets of Brazil, China, Colombia, Germany, India, Malaysia, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and Saudi Arabia through strategic alliances as well as acquisitions of dialysis centers. These are expected to help DaVita deliver more efficient patient care. Currently, DaVita is seeking to expand in major European and Asian countries via acquisitions and partnerships. In 2025, management expects operating growth in the company’s international business as it continues expansion in international markets.

As of Sept. 30, 2025, DaVita provided dialysis services to around 293,200 patients at 3,247 outpatient dialysis centers, of which 2,662 were U.S. centers while 585 were located across 14 other countries. During the third quarter of 2025, the company opened three dialysis centers in the United States. It also acquired 58 dialysis centers outside the United States in the same period.

Mixed Q3 Results: DaVita ended the third quarter of 2025 with mixed results. The uptick in the company’s top line and revenue per treatment was encouraging. The per-day increase in total U.S. dialysis treatments for the third quarter on a sequential basis and solid revenues from dialysis patient service were encouraging. The opening of dialysis centers within the United States and the acquisition of centers overseas were promising.

However, the year-over-year decline in the bottom line and normalized non-acquired treatment was disappointing.

Downsides

Dependence on Commercial Payers: DaVita generates a meaningful share of dialysis and lab revenues, and most of its profits, from commercially insured patients, but this mix is under pressure. Rising unemployment could accelerate shifts from commercial plans to government coverage and the share of non-government reimbursed treatments has already been declining.

With a large portion of patients already covered by Medicare or Medicaid, further growth in Medicare Advantage enrolment could compress margins, as lower government reimbursement rates may strain profitability and potentially lead to dialysis center closures.

Estimate Trend

DaVita is witnessing a stable estimate revision trend for 2025. In the past 30 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings has remained stable at $10.52.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company’s fourth-quarter 2025 revenues is pegged at $3.53 billion, indicating a 6.9% uptick from the year-ago quarter’s reported number. The consensus mark for earnings is pegged at $3.34 per share, implying a 49.11% year-over-year decline. 

Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks from the broader medical space are Intuitive Surgical (ISRG - Free Report) , Medpace Holdings (MEDP - Free Report) and Boston Scientific (BSX - Free Report) .

Intuitive Surgicalsporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) at present, posted a third-quarter 2025 adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $2.40, exceeding the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 20.6%. Revenues of $2.51 billion topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 3.9%. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rankstocks here.

ISRG has an estimated long-term earnings growth rate of 15.7% compared with the industry’s 11.9% growth. The company’s earnings outpaced estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 16.34%.

Medpace, currently carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), reported a third-quarter 2025 EPS of $3.86, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 10.29%. Revenues of $659.9 million beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 3.04%.

MEDP has an estimated earnings growth rate of 17.1% for 2025 compared with the industry’s 16.6% growth. The company’s earnings beat estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 14.28%.

Boston Scientific, currently carrying a Zacks Rank #2, reported a third-quarter 2025 adjusted EPS of 75 cents, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 5.6%. Revenues of $5.07 billion outperformed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.9%.

BSX has an estimated long-term earnings growth rate of 16.4% compared with the industry’s 13.5% growth. The company’s earnings beat estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 7.36%.

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