Spinoff best option for Tenet investors

Article Excerpt

TENET HEALTHCARE CORP. $21 (New York symbol THC; Consumer Sector; Shares outstanding: 103.4 million; Market cap: $2.2 billion; No dividend paid; Takeover Target Rating: Highest; www.tenethealth.com) is one of the largest for-profit hospital chains in the U.S. It operates 65 hospitals and 500 other health-care facilities. Those include surgical hospitals, ambulatory surgery centres, urgent care and imaging centres, and other outpatient facilities. The company took its current form on March 1, 1995, with National Medical Enterprises’ purchase of American Medical Holdings for $1.5 billion cash and 33.2 million shares of common stock. Patients with private insurance plans accounted for 65% of Tenet’s revenue in 2018, followed by Medicare/Medicaid plans (30%) and those without insurance (5%). Thanks in part to acquisitions, revenue rose 18.1%, from $16.62 billion in 2014 to $19.62 billion in 2016. Revenue fell 2.3%, to $19.18 billion in 2017, and 4.5% to $18.31 billion in 2018. The declines reflect the sale of some the company’s hospitals. Earnings have been more erratic. They…