HCA Healthcare, Inc. · HCA · FY2025 Q4 · Calendar Q1 2026

HCA plans growth investment while policy risks remain central

HCA enters 2026 with continued volume growth and planned capacity, digital, and AI investment, but the durability of earnings growth depends on offsetting exchange and Medicaid policy headwinds through operating savings and execution.

Reported Before market openNYSEHealthcare $93.66B market cap
100quality score

Earnings scorecard

Reported versus consensus
Reported EPS $8.01 Consensus $7.46
EPS surprise +7.4% Reported versus consensus
Reported revenue $19.51B Consensus $19.68B
Revenue surprise -0.9% Reported versus consensus

Market reaction

prior-close to event-session close
Stock move +7.1% Event window
SPY move +0.4% Same window
Abnormal move +6.7% Stock minus SPY
Volume 3.4× Versus trailing sessions
Subsequent drift +6.9% Up to 20 sessions
HCASPY benchmark

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Transcript intelligence

What changed

Relative to the prior-quarter analysis, the current analysis emphasizes a $400 million 2026 resiliency savings target, higher planned capital spending of $5-$5.5 billion, and the pause of the Texas Atlas Medicaid program. The prior analysis had highlighted raised 2025 guidance and a $240 million Medicaid supplemental-payment benefit.

Guidance delta

Maintained; management outlined 2026 plans rather than a reported guidance increase or reduction.

Key takeaways

  • 2025 results showed revenue growth, net income growth, and adjusted EBITDA growth, with volume growth continuing for the 19th consecutive quarter.
  • Management is targeting $400 million of 2026 resiliency savings as exchange and Medicaid pressures increase.
  • Higher 2026 capital spending is directed toward outpatient expansion, inpatient capacity, and AI-enabled digital initiatives.

Management priorities

  • Deliver the $400 million resiliency program savings target
  • Increase 2026 capital spending to $5-$5.5 billion and expand outpatient and inpatient capacity
  • Deploy AI across revenue cycle, operations, and clinical decision support

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Earnings History

Estimate Beat Miss Match
HCA REVENUE earnings history estimate and actual scatter chart 9 reported fiscal quarters and 4 future estimate-only quarters. Q1 '24 estimate $17B Q1 '24 actual $17B, beat Q2 '24 estimate $17B Q2 '24 actual $17B, beat Q3 '24 estimate $18B Q3 '24 actual $17B, miss Q2 '25 estimate $18B Q2 '25 actual $19B, beat Q3 '25 estimate $19B Q3 '25 actual $19B, beat Q4 '25 estimate $20B Q4 '25 actual $20B, miss Q1 '26 estimate $19B Q1 '26 actual $19B, beat Q2 '26 estimate $20B Q2 '26 actual $20B, beat Q3 '26 estimate $19B Q4 '26 estimate $20B Q1 '27 estimate $20B Q2 '27 estimate $21B
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Analyst Consensus ?

ConsensusBuy45 ratings
Bullish2862.2%
Neutral1533.3%
Bearish24.5%

Analyst 52W Price Targets

$430.23Current
$224Low
$399.23Average
$579High

Latest persisted target per named analyst; persisted current price from FN2's market snapshot as of Sep 29, 2026. Not an FN2 forecast.

Firm-level rating actions

FMP grade actions identify the grading firm, not a named analyst.

FirmRatingPrior ratingActionDate
Leerink Partners Outperform OutperformMaintainSep 18, 2026
RBC Capital Outperform OutperformMaintainSep 8, 2026
JP Morgan Neutral NeutralMaintainAug 20, 2026
Wells Fargo Equal Weight Equal WeightMaintainAug 3, 2026
Mizuho Outperform OutperformMaintainJul 28, 2026
Show 40 more rating actions

Named analyst price targets

Upside is calculated against the persisted current price $430.23. FMP does not supply a rating on these named-analyst rows.

FirmAnalyst52W targetPrice when postedUpsideDate
BMO CapitalAnalyst unavailable$495$438.12 +15.1%Sep 22, 2026
Goldman SachsAnalyst unavailable$485$389.62 +12.7%Jul 28, 2026
UBSAnalyst unavailable$579$390.7 +34.6%Jul 27, 2026
Deutsche BankAnalyst unavailable$476$387.41 +10.6%Jul 27, 2026
Morgan StanleyAnalyst unavailable$380$388.48 -11.7%Jul 27, 2026
See 115 more

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Company context

Snapshot as of publication

HCA Healthcare, Inc., operating through its subsidiaries, delivers a comprehensive array of healthcare services throughout the United States. The organization manages a network of general and acute care hospitals that provide a full spectrum of medical and surgical care, encompassing inpatient services, intensive care, cardiac treatment, diagnostic procedures, and emergency services. These hospitals additionally offer a broad range of outpatient care, such as ambulatory surgery, laboratory testing, radiology, respiratory therapy, cardiology, and physical therapy. Beyond its hospital infrastructure, HCA Healthcare operates numerous specialized outpatient facilities.…

Historical context

All HCA earnings

Healthcare peers this season

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COO The Cooper Companies, Inc. FY2026 Q3 · Calendar Q3 2026 +2.7% -14.7% CooperCompanies beats expectations as inventory reduction weighs on vision revenue
MDT Medtronic plc FY2027 Q1 · Calendar Q3 2026 +4.3% +1.5% Medtronic raises FY27 outlook as growth broadens across platforms

Latest beats and misses

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Sources

  1. Earnings call transcript and parsed analysis · 2026-05-11T10:29:34.698584+00:00
  2. FN2 earnings calendar · 2026-07-26T00:37:12.209961+00:00
  3. Polygon adjusted daily market bars · 2026-09-29T12:40:56.664553+00:00
  4. Financial Modeling Prep analyst price-target consensus and quote snapshot · 2026-09-29T12:40:56.661582+00:00

Methodology

Reported and consensus figures come from FN2's earnings event records. Market reaction and volume are calculated from daily adjusted bars around the event; abnormal move subtracts the SPY move over the same window.

Analyst target low, average, and high values are derived at request time from each named analyst's latest persisted FMP target. The current-price marker comes from FN2's persisted market snapshot. They are sell-side estimates, not an FN2 valuation or recommendation.

Transcript intelligence is a structured synthesis of the current and prior earnings-call analyses. Missing values stay missing and are never estimated.

By FN2 Research · Updated · As of 2026-09-29. For educational purposes only; not investment advice.