Tenet Healthcare Sells MacNeal Hospital To Streamline Trade

Tenet Healthcare Corporation (NYSE:THC) has recently completed the sale of MacNeal Hospital and its associated operations to Loyola Medicine, an affiliate of Trinity Health. The company has also sold its minority interest in Baylor Scott & White Medical Center.

MacNeal Hospital’s divestiture marks one of the multiple business-streamlining steps taken by Tenet Healthcare due to its sufferance from a decline in admissions, inpatient and outpatient surgeries, emergency department visits and total outpatient visits.

The company has also completed the divestiture of its Philadelphia-area acute care hospitals and related operations to American Academic Health System, LLC, an affiliate of Paladin Healthcare in January 2018. These divestitures have generated more than $550 million of cash proceeds in the first quarter of 2018.

The company also sold its Huston-based hospitals and related operations to HCA Healthcare Inc. (NYSE:HCA) last quarter. This continuous sale of units aims at making a consistent improvement in its business portfolio by exiting non-core and least profitable business lines.

Tenet Healthcare has been utilizing the sale proceeds generated from its subsidiaries to repay debt and reduce interest burden as well as strengthen the company’s balance sheet in turn. At the end of 2017, the company’s long-term debt lowered 2% year over year.

The funds are also being invested in growth areas such as the company's Ambulatory platform wherein it targets $100-$150 million of annual acquisition opportunities.

In a year’s time, shares of Tenet Healthcare have gained 5.4%, outperforming the industry’s rise of 1.4%.

Another player in the same space, Community Health Systems, Inc. (NYSE:CYH) has been engaged in frequent divestitures to streamline its core businesses and reduce long-term debt. Of late in February 2018, Community Health signed definitive agreements to sell off a 60-bed Byrd Regional Hospital and its associated assets to the subsidiaries of Allegiance Health Management.

Zacks Rank

Tenet Healthcare holds a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Stock to Consider

A better-ranked stock from the hospital industry is Universal Health Services, Inc (NYSE:UHS) , having delivered positive surprises in two of the last four quarters with an average beat of 0.2%.

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