HCA Healthcare (HCA)
Health Care · $94.9B market cap · SEC CIK 0000860730
fundamentals score out of 100
Next reports on Oct 22, 2026, before the open, with analysts expecting $6.79 in earnings per share.
The case for HCA
- Free cash flow of 8.1% of its market value a year: a lot of cash for the price.
- Earnings per share up 25.5%.
- Earns 11% a year on everything it owns (return on assets).
- Reasonably priced at 13.9× earnings.
- A PEG of 0.55: a P/E of 13.9× is low for EPS growing 25%.
- Gross margin of 85% absorbs cost shocks.
The case against
- Owes more than it owns: shareholder equity is -$6.0B, usually the result of buybacks funded with debt. ROE and price-to-book mean little here.
- Current liabilities exceed current assets (ratio 0.99).
- Long-term debt of $41.6B against $1.0B of cash.
What the score is made of
Each factor is half a curve over reported figures and half a rank among the other Health Care companies (momentum is judged against fixed thresholds only), and the five are blended by weight. It describes the last filing and the current price. It is not a forecast.
| Valuewhat you pay for the earnings, sales, assets and cash | 86 |
|---|---|
| Growthhow fast revenue and earnings are moving, this year and over five | 62 |
| Profitabilityhow much of the revenue becomes profit, and how much of that is cash | 68 |
| Momentumhow the price has behaved lately | 58 |
| Stabilityhow violently it moves, what it owes and what it pays you | 27 |
- Shareholder equity is negative, so return on equity, price-to-book and debt-to-equity are left out.
- Each factor except momentum is half fixed thresholds, half rank among the 59 Health Care companies.
Key numbers
| Price / earnings | 13.9× |
|---|---|
| Price / book | n/m (negative equity) |
| Price / sales | 1.2× |
| Revenue growth (YoY) | +7.3% |
| EPS growth (YoY) | +25.5% |
| Gross margin | 85% |
| Operating margin | 15% |
| Net margin | 9% |
| Return on assets | 11.2% (ROE not meaningful: negative equity) |
| Debt / equity | n/m (negative equity) |
| Current ratio | 0.99 |
| Dividend yield | 0.95% |
| Beta | 1.14 |
| 52-week range | $353.99 – $556.52 |
| Position in that range | 42% of the way up |
| 3-month return | +13.5% |
| 1-year return | +5.9% |
Five years of financials, as filed
Pulled from HCA Healthcare's XBRL filings on SEC EDGAR. Italic rows are derived from the rows above.
| FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | FY2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $75.6B | $70.6B | $65.0B | $60.2B | $58.8B |
| Net income | $6.8B | $5.8B | $5.2B | $5.6B | $7.0B |
| Operating cash flow | $12.6B | $10.5B | $9.4B | $8.5B | $9.0B |
| Capital expenditure | $4.9B | $4.9B | $4.7B | $4.4B | $3.6B |
| Total assets | $60.7B | $59.5B | $56.2B | $52.4B | $50.7B |
| Shareholder equity | -$6.0B | -$2.5B | -$1.8B | -$2.8B | -$933M |
| Cash | $1.0B | $1.9B | $935M | $908M | $1.5B |
| Long-term debt | $41.6B | $38.3B | $37.2B | $37.7B | $34.3B |
| Free cash flow | $7.7B | $5.6B | $4.7B | $4.1B | $5.4B |
| Net margin | 9.0% | 8.2% | 8.1% | 9.4% | 11.8% |
| Diluted shares | 239M | 262M | 276M | 295M | 329M |
Share count is down 27.2% over 4 years. Buybacks have been shrinking the pie.
What HCA Healthcare says it does
HCA Healthcare, Inc. is one of the leading health care services companies in the United States. At December 31, 2025, we operated 190 hospitals, comprised of 179 general acute care hospitals, seven behavioral hospitals, and four rehabilitation hospitals. In addition, we operated 121 freestanding ambulatory surgery centers ("ASCs") and 31 freestanding endoscopy centers. Our facilities are located in 19 states and England. The terms "Company," "HCA," "HCA Healthcare," "we," "our" or "us," as used herein and unless otherwise stated or indicated by context, refer to HCA Healthcare, Inc. and its affiliates. The term "affiliates" means direct and indirect subsidiaries of HCA Healthcare, Inc. and partnerships and joint ventures in which such subsidiaries are partners. The terms "facilities" or "hospitals" refer to entities owned and operated by affiliates of HCA, and the term "employees" refers to employees of affiliates of HCA. Our primary…
Risk factors HCA lists in its 10-K
- Our debt agreements contain restrictions that limit our flexibility in operating our business
- Our results of operations may be adversely affected by competition for staffing, the shortage of experienced nurses and other health care professionals and labor union activity
- Our performance depends on our ability to recruit and retain quality physicians
- We may be unable to attract, hire and retain a highly qualified workforce, including key management
- Risks related to technology, data privacy and cybersecurity
- Our operations could be impaired by a failure in or breach of our information systems or those of third parties on whose systems our business relies
- Health care technology initiatives, particularly those related to sharing patient data and interoperability and AI, involve risks that may adversely affect our operations
- Risks related to public health crises
- The emergence and effects related to a potential future pandemic, epidemic or outbreak of an infectious disease could adversely affect our business and operations
- Risks related to governmental regulation and other legal matters
- and may adversely affect our business and results of operations
- Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo
- Changes in government health care programs may adversely affect our revenues and business
- If we fail to comply with extensive laws and government regulations, we could suffer penalties or be required to make significant changes to our operations