UHS, like HCA, unveils flat Q2 earnings

Like HCA, hospital chain Universal Health Services posted flat earnings in its second quarter and reduced its earnings guidance for the remainder of 2017.

King of Prussia, Pa.-based UHS posted net income of $188.1 million on revenue of $2.61 billion in the second quarter compared with net income of $191.1 million on revenue of $2.43 billion in the year-earlier period, the company said in its earnings disclosure Tuesday after the markets closed.

Income from operations, another gauge of performance, was $330.2 million in the second quarter compared with $333.3 million in the year-ago quarter.

UHS, which owns 26 acute-care hospitals and 294 smaller behavioral health hospitals, picked up two hospitals over the last year. Its 24 acute-care hospitals owned for more than a year saw revenue rise 5.1% in the quarter compared to a year ago, but revenue per admission was flat.

The health system reduced its top-end and bottom-end net earnings guidance by 20 cents from a range of $7.50 per share to $8.00 per share. It had been a range of $7.70 to $8.20.

At same-store behavioral health hospitals, revenue in the quarter increased 2.2% but sank 1.4% in revenue per admission.

UHS followed bellwether HCA in reducing earnings guidance after second-quarter results that did not meet analyst expectations. HCA's admissions rose just 1% in the quarter but surgeries across its 170 hospitals fell vs. the year-ago performance.