HCA Stock Surges 7%, Adding $6.7 Billion, On The Day It Plans A $6.5 Billion Notes Offering
HCA shares rose 6.95% in Wednesday trading as the hospital operator moved to refinance $1.2 billion of 2027 notes and repay credit borrowings.
HCA Healthcare shares climbed 6.95% to $495.04 in Wednesday trading, as of 10:26 a.m. ET, adding $6.7 billion in market value on the day an SEC filing showed it plans to sell $6.5 billion of notes. The 4.500% 2027 notes, $1.2 billion in all, are slated for redemption.
Biggest gain since July 28
The move was on pace to be HCA's largest one-day gain since July 28, when the shares rose 7.3%. HCA stock was down about 0.9% for the year as of Tuesday's close, while the S&P 500 was up about 11% over the same stretch.
A report on hospitals and insurers rallying also ran Wednesday, and the filing itself is the only company event tied to the move here.
A hospital operator with 190 facilities
HCA runs hospitals and outpatient facilities in the United States and England. Its footprint spanned 19 states and England by the end of 2025, including 190 hospitals plus 121 freestanding ambulatory surgery centers and 31 freestanding endoscopy centers. Revenue for 2025 was $75.6 billion.
It is paid for care by Medicare, Medicaid, managed care plans, private insurers and patients directly, which is why the payer mix matters to its results.
Uninsured shift cost $400 million
In its third-quarter results, the company reported revenue up 3.6% to $19.849 billion. Net income attributable to HCA fell 3.9% to $1.579 billion, while diluted earnings per share rose 4.5% to $7.27.
A jump in uninsured patients, mostly people who lost coverage on the health insurance exchanges, cut about $400 million from pretax income in the quarter, the company estimated. Becker's Hospital Review put the estimated cost of uncompensated care at $1.5 billion, up from $1.2 billion a year earlier.
CEO Sam Hazen said in the release that HCA has "strong staying power because of our scale," and that the company is positioned to end the year positively. HCA now expects full-year operating results in the upper half of its 2026 guidance ranges, first issued July 14.
The $6.5 billion offering would retire the $1.2 billion of 2027 notes and pay down credit borrowings, according to the filing.
Sources
- HCA Healthcare, Centene, Oscar Ride Blue Wave To Buy Points | Investor's Business Daily — investors.com
- Health insurers, hospitals rally after sweeping midterm win for Democrats — Reuters
- Stock futures rise after Democrats sweep midterm elections — qz.com
- HCA Q3 revenue by payer as uninsured shift costs $400M — beckershospitalreview.com
- Here’s How Much You Would Have Made Owning HCA Healthcare Stock In The Last 15 Years — benzinga.com
- The company's filing (HCA Healthcare) — SEC filing
- HCA Healthcare — Form 10-Q for the quarter ended 2026-09-30 (quarterly results) — SEC EDGAR
- HCA Healthcare — earnings release (Form 8-K, Item 2.02), filed 2026-10-27 — SEC EDGAR
