03:20 PM EDT, 04/26/2024 (MT Newswires) -- CFRA, an independent research provider, has provided MT Newswires with the following research alert. Analysts at CFRA have summarized their opinion as follows:

We raise our 12-month target price by $10 to $329, 15.9x our 2024 EPS estimate (up $0.23 to $20.68), a premium to health care facility peers. We raise our 2025 estimate by $1.23 to $23.10. HCA reported Q1 adjusted EPS of $5.36 vs. $4.93, $0.27 above consensus. On a same-facility basis, equivalent admissions rose 5.2% Y/Y. Inpatient surgery cases grew 1.7% Y/Y and outpatient surgery cases fell 2.1% Y/Y, which the company attributes to weaker Medicaid volume due to the redetermination process. Contract labor represented 5.1% of salary, wages, and benefits in the quarter; adjusted EBITDA margin of 19.3% fell from 20.3% in Q1 2023. HCA repurchased $1.18B of shares during the quarter (with about $5.6B remaining in authorization) and maintained 2024 financial guidance (including 3%-4% equivalent admissions growth), while assuming some expectation of moderating volumes during the second half of 2024.