Investing.com -- Shares in Tenet Healthcare Corporation (NYSE:THC) moved higher on Monday, after the Dallas-based investor-owned healthcare services company posted stronger than expected quarterly earnings for the first quarter.
Tenet Healthcare, the third-largest investor-owned hospital company in the U.S., reported $529 million in adjusted EBITDA for the quarter, a $142 million or 37% increase from the same period last year. Tenet also reported revenue of $4.79 billion for the quarter and earnings of 67 cents per share, more than doubling analysts' forecasts of earnings of 31 cents.
“This was a very good quarter for Tenet, characterized by a continuation of the strong volume trends from the second half of 2014, exceptional results at Conifer, and EBITDA that exceeded our expectations,” Tenet CEO Trevor Fetter, president and chief executive officer. “We also made a number of important steps in the quarter to improve Tenet’s strategic position. We expect these actions to enable us to generate faster growth, improve margins and increase free cash flow. This includes our recently announced joint venture with United Surgical Partners International and Welsh Carson to form the nation’s largest network of ambulatory surgery centers and leading provider of ambulatory solutions to not-for-profit health systems.”
The joint venture with United Surgical helped Tenet boost outpatient visits by more than 7.5% on a year-over-year basis, the company said. By the end of quarter, Tenet said it operated 215 outpatient facilities, a spike of 26 facilities in comparison with the previous year. In terms of same-hospital growth, Tenet said admissions grew by 4.9% for the period while paying admissions increased by 6.2%, a reflection of an increase in newly insured patients.
Shares in Tenet gained 1.01 or 2.04% in after-hours trading to 50.50 on Monday. Earlier, Tenet gained 1.81 points or 3.80% in advance of the earnings release.