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Tenet Healthcare Up 39% in a Year: Further Upside Left?

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Tenet Healthcare Corporation (THC - Free Report) has been favored by investors on the back of its strategic initiatives and cost-reduction measures.

Shares of this presently Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company have surged 39% in a year's time, outperforming its industry’s increase of 1.5%.

The price performance looks stellar when compared to other companies’ stock movements in the same space, such as HCA Healthcare, Inc. (HCA - Free Report) , Acadia Healthcare Company, Inc. (ACHC - Free Report) and MEDNAX, Inc. (MD - Free Report) . While HCA Healthcare and Acadia Healthcare have gained 8.9% and 12.4%, respectively, MEDNAX has lost 10% in the same time frame. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Investors were impressed by the company’s recent results, wherein its earnings of $1.26 per share outshone the Zacks Consensus Estimate  of a loss of 99 cents. Further, the bottom line soared 125% year over year, mainly owing to operational performance in business segments and lower expenses. 

The company has also been engaged in evaluation of COVID through virtual visits, off-site locations and emergency services recently.

In June, Tenet Healthcare recovered around 90% volumes of pre-COVID levels for hospital admissions and surgeries. Per its last earnings call, management had said that the company’s hospital ER and outpatient volumes are also rebounding at a moderate pace.

Share price is likely to have been supported by the company's continuing inorganic growth strategy.

In the first six months of this year, it bought controlling interests in a multi-specialty surgery center each in Colorado, Tennessee and Arizona, and two in Florida for around $55 million. All these initiatives bode well for the long haul.

Investors are impressed by the company's efforts to divest its non-core unit, which not only streamlined its business but also helped it meet its debt obligation and maintain financial liquidity. The company’s strategic priorities include completion of hospital divestitures and allocation of capital to higher return investments across the capital structure. The company’s spin-off of its Conifer business into an independent publicly-traded company is expected to close by the end of 2021.

Is the Bull Run Likely to Continue?

We expect the company to continue performing well as it steadily pursues its strategies to pay down its debts and focus on core operations. Other factors, such as reducing costs are likely to contribute to margins as well.

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