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HCA Holdings (HCA) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know
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In the latest trading session, HCA Holdings (HCA - Free Report) closed at $140.29, marking a +1.85% move from the previous day. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.22%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.49%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.15%.
Heading into today, shares of the hospital operator had gained 1% over the past month, outpacing the Medical sector's gain of 0.16% and the S&P 500's loss of 0.57% in that time.
Investors will be hoping for strength from HCA as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be January 29, 2019. In that report, analysts expect HCA to post earnings of $2.58 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 21.7%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $12.16 billion, up 5.2% from the prior-year quarter.
Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $9.35 per share and revenue of $46.53 billion. These totals would mark changes of +41.88% and +6.69%, respectively, from last year.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for HCA should also be noted by investors. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.
Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.
Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 1.23% higher. HCA is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Looking at its valuation, HCA is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 14.73. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 14.38.
Meanwhile, HCA's PEG ratio is currently 1.21. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. HCA's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.25 as of yesterday's close.
The Medical - Hospital industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 201, putting it in the bottom 22% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.
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HCA Holdings (HCA) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know
In the latest trading session, HCA Holdings (HCA - Free Report) closed at $140.29, marking a +1.85% move from the previous day. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.22%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.49%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.15%.
Heading into today, shares of the hospital operator had gained 1% over the past month, outpacing the Medical sector's gain of 0.16% and the S&P 500's loss of 0.57% in that time.
Investors will be hoping for strength from HCA as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be January 29, 2019. In that report, analysts expect HCA to post earnings of $2.58 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 21.7%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $12.16 billion, up 5.2% from the prior-year quarter.
Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $9.35 per share and revenue of $46.53 billion. These totals would mark changes of +41.88% and +6.69%, respectively, from last year.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for HCA should also be noted by investors. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.
Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.
Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 1.23% higher. HCA is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Looking at its valuation, HCA is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 14.73. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 14.38.
Meanwhile, HCA's PEG ratio is currently 1.21. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. HCA's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.25 as of yesterday's close.
The Medical - Hospital industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 201, putting it in the bottom 22% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.