Community Health Systems Shares Increase Most in 10 Months: Atlanta Mover
Community Health Systems Rises Most in 10 Months
Bradley C. Bower/Bloomberg
An ambulance drives up to Community Health's Chestnut Hill Hospital in Philadelphia.
An ambulance drives up to Community Health's Chestnut Hill Hospital in Philadelphia. Photographer: Bradley C. Bower/Bloomberg
Community Health Systems, the second-largest U.S. hospital operator, surged the most in 10 months after reporting earnings that beat analyst estimates.
Community Health gained 15 percent to $23.85 at 4 p.m. New York time, the biggest increase since April 12. The shares have fallen 36 percent in the last 12 months.
Fourth-quarter profit excluding some items was 85 cents a share, the Franklin, Tennessee-based company said in a statement yesterday. The results beat by three cents the average estimate of 17 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The hospital operator reported a 3.5 percent decline in total admissions, a drop the company will work this year to reverse, said Frank Morgan, the analyst with RBC Capital Markets in Brentwood, Tennessee.
“The results were reasonable and I think there are some encouraging signs,” Morgan said in a telephone interview. “They are going through a very weak period in volume and we think over the next quarters we could see some improvement.”
Net income fell to 35 cents a share from 77 cents after an after-tax charge of 47 cents from debt retirement, Community Health said in the statement.
To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah Frier in New York at sfrier1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reg Gale at rgale5@bloomberg.net
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