Tenet Healthcare raises full-year outlook
Tenet says trends in the summer were better than expected, raises profit forecast; shares jump
DALLAS (AP) -- Hospital operator Tenet Healthcare Corp. raised its estimates for 2009 on Monday, saying business in the third quarter has been stronger than expected.
Tenet said it expects a profit of 4 cents to 8 cents per share for the year, compared with its earlier forecast of a loss of a penny to 8 cents per share. According to a survey by Thomson Reuters, analysts expect Tenet to post a profit of 5 cents per share.
The new outlook includes net income attributable to shareholders of $76 million to $141 million, and $900 million to $950 million in adjusted earnings before income tax, depreciation and amortization. Previously the company forecast a loss of $20 million to a profit of $60 million attributable to shareholders, and an adjusted profit of $810 million to $875 million.
The company also boosted its net operating revenue forecast to $9 billion to $9.1 billion, from a prior view of $8.9 billion to $9.1 billion.
Tenet CEO Trevor Fetter said trends including rising outpatient procedures, better payer and patient mix, and cost control helped its results in the second quarter and continued to improve through August.
The company reported results from the first 10 weeks of the third quarter, a period ending Sept. 8. It said patient admissions grew 0.2 percent from the same time last year. Paying admissions were unchanged, and admissions from patients with commercial insurance fell 4.1 percent. Charity and uninsured admissions rose 3.5 percent.
Including only hospitals Tenet has owned and operated for at least one year, outpatient visits rose 3.8 percent, with paying outpatient visits up 4.4 percent, commercial managed care admissions up 0.8 percent, and charity and uninsured outpatient visits down 1 percent.
The quarter lasts 13 weeks, concluding at the end of September.
In morning trading, Tenet shares rose 44 cents, or 8.1 percent, to $5.89. The stock has ranged from 78 cents to $6.70 over the past year.