雅虎香港財經 Universal Health Q3 Earnings Miss on Elevated Operating Costs
Universal Health Services, Inc. UHS reported third-quarter 2024 adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $3.71, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.1%. Nevertheless, the bottom line climbed 45.5% year over year.
Net revenues advanced 11.2% year over year to nearly $4 billion. The top line beat the consensus mark by 1.4%.
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Universal Health’s quarterly performance suffered from an elevated operating expense level. Nevertheless, the downside was partly offset by strong revenue growth in both Acute Care Hospital Services and Behavioral Health Care Services segments as a result of increased patient admissions and adjusted patient days.
Universal Health Services, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Universal Health Services, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Universal Health Services, Inc. Quote
UHS’ Quarterly Operational Update
Adjusted EBITDA net of NCI was $526.5 million, which improved nearly 25% year over year and surpassed our estimate of $507.6 million.
Total operating costs escalated 9.2% year over year to $3.6 billion due to higher salaries, wages and benefits, other operating expenses and supplies costs.
UHS’ Segmental Update
Acute Care Hospital Services
Adjusted admissions (adjusted for outpatient activity) inched up 1.5% on a same-facility basis. Adjusted patient days grew 2% year over year. Net revenues stemming from Universal Health’s acute care services advanced 9.2% on a same-facility basis.
Behavioral Health Care Services
Adjusted admissions rose 2.2% on a same-facility basis in the quarter. Adjusted patient days increased 1.8% on a same-facility basis. Net revenues derived from the behavioral healthcare services of UHS climbed 10.5% in a same-facility basis.
Financial Update of UHS (As of Sept. 30, 2024)
Universal Health exited the third quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $106.1 million, which tumbled 11.2% from the 2023-end level. As part of its $1.3 billion revolving credit facility, net of outstanding borrowings and letters of credit, there remains an aggregate available borrowing capacity of $1.01 billion at the third-quarter end.
Total assets of $14.4 billion increased 2.8% from the figure at 2023-end.
Long-term debt amounted to $4.6 billion, down 3.5% from the figure as of Dec. 31, 2023. Current maturities of long-term debt totaled $38.4 million.
Total equity of $6.7 billion rose 7.8% from the 2023-end level.
UHS generated cash flows from operations of $1.4 billion in the first nine months of 2024, which soared 72.8% from the prior-year period.
UHS’ Share Repurchase Update
Universal Health bought back shares worth $153.9 million in the third quarter. The company had a leftover repurchase capacity of around $1.1 billion as of Sept. 30, 2024.
2024 Guidance of Universal Health
Earlier, management expected net revenues to be between $15.565 billion and $15.753 billion for 2024, the mid-point of which indicated an improvement of 9.6% from the 2023 figure.
Adjusted EBITDA, net of NCI, was estimated to be in the range of $2.154-$2.226 billion, the mid-point of which indicates 25.7% growth from the 2023 figure.
EPS was expected to lie in the band of $15.40-$16.20, the midpoint of which implied a rise of 49.9% from the 2023 figure.
Depreciation and amortization was anticipated to be $592.5 million. Interest expenses were estimated at around $195.7 million. Capital expenditures were expected to be between $850 million and $1 billion.
UHS’ Zacks Rank
Universal Health currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Other Medical Sector Releases
Of the Medical sector players that have reported third-quarter 2024 results so far, the bottom-line results of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated UNH, Molina Healthcare, Inc. MOH and Intuitive Surgical, Inc. ISRG beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate.
UnitedHealth Group reported third-quarter adjusted EPS of $7.15, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.9%. The bottom line advanced 9% year over year. Revenues rose 9.1% year over year to $100.8 billion. The top line beat the consensus mark by 1.3%. Its medical care ratio was 85.2%, which deteriorated 290 basis points (bps) year over year. UNH’s operating earnings grew 2.4% year over year to $8.7 billion. However, the net margin deteriorated 30 bps year over year to 6%.
Revenues of the health benefits business of UnitedHealth, UnitedHealthcare, advanced 7.2% year over year to $74.9 billion. Earnings from operations amounted to $4.2 billion ,down 8.7% year over year. Revenues in the Optum business line were $63.9 billion, which rose 12.7% year over year. Optum’s earnings from operations climbed 15.4% year over year to $4.5 billion. The UnitedHealthcare business catered to 50.7 million people as of Sept. 30, 2024, which fell 4% year over year.
Molina Healthcare’s third-quarter adjusted EPS of $6.01 beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $5.96. Also, the bottom line grew 19% from the year-ago period. Total revenues amounted to $10.3 billion, which improved 20.9% year over year. Also, the top line outpaced the consensus mark by 3.8%. Premium revenues of $9.7 billion increased 18% year over year .
As of Sept. 30, 2024, total membership improved 8% year over year to around 5.6 million. Investment income rose 5.4% year over year to $118 million and beat the consensus mark of $117.1 million. The consolidated medical care, or MCR, was 89.2% . The metric rose from 88.7% a year ago. Molina Healthcare’s adjusted net income increased 18% year over year to $347 million.
Intuitive Surgical reported third-quarter adjusted EPS of $1.84, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.65 by 11.5%. The bottom line improved 26% year over year. The company reported revenues of $2.04 billion, up 17% from the prior-year quarter’s number, on a reported as well as a constant currency basis. The top line also beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.2%. Revenues from the Instruments & Accessories segment totaled $1.26 billion, indicating a year-over-year improvement of 18%.
The Systems segment’s revenues totaled $445 million, up 17.4% year over year. Intuitive Surgical shipped 341 da Vinci Surgical Systems compared with 379 in the prior-year quarter. Revenues from the Services segment amounted to $328.9 million, up 3.7% from the year-ago quarter’s level. Adjusted gross profit was $1.41 billion, up 17.3% year over year. Adjusted operating income totaled $754.9 million, up 21% year over year.
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