LifePoint Health withstood a choppy stock market Friday to post a trading gain of 4.5% on the strength of its third-quarter earnings.
The hospital chain traded as high as $61 per share Friday morning before it was reported the FBI reopened its investigation into Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server. That news caused equity markets across all sectors, including healthcare, to plummet.
LifePoint's shares closed Friday at $59.35. Community Health Systems, another rural hospital operator, also held on to a mild rebound Friday after its stock fell an astonishing 50% on Thursday after previewing third-quarter losses. The share price of CHS closed up 18 cents per share, or 3.5%, to $5.23.
In its third quarter, LifePoint reported an increase in adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization versus the year-earlier period. However, net income fell slightly due to a $1.5 million expense to accelerate the depreciation of its Marquette (Mich.) General Hospital. LifePoint is building a replacement hospital.
“Our core business is solid and performing well,” LifePoint CEO William Carpenter said.
Brentwood, Tenn.-based LifePoint posted net income of $41.2 million in the third quarter, compared with net income of $45.8 million in the year-earlier quarter. Revenue in the quarter was $1.59 billion, up 21% from $1.31 billion in the third quarter of 2015. Adjusted EBITDA rose 9% to $188 million in the quarter compared with adjusted EBITDA of $172.7 million in the year-ago period.
The equity markets were up substantially Friday morning on news the U.S. economy grew at a solid 2.9% in the third quarter after straggling along in the first half.
That all changed, though, at about 1 p.m. EDT when word leaked out that FBI Director James Comey had told members of Congress the agency was reviving its investigation of Clinton's email server use during her time as secretary of state. The presidential election between Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump is 11 days away.
The benchmark S&P 500 index, after reaching a daily high of 2,140.49 in the afternoon, plunged to 2,120.52 an hour later, before finishing the day flat at 2,126.41.
