© Reuters. HCA Healthcare Inc logo is seen displayed in this illustration taken April 10, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
(Reuters) -HCA Healthcare tightened its full-year forecast and missed Wall Street estimates for quarterly profit on Tuesday, hurt by an increase in staffing costs and weakness at its physician staffing joint venture Valesco.
The shares of the hospital operator fell nearly 7% in premarket trading.
Although the company did not provide clarity on what impacted its Valesco business, analysts anticipated a hit from an increase in physician expenses during the quarter.
HCA (NYSE:), the largest for-profit hospital operator in the U.S., reported a 9.5% year-on-year increase in expenses on salaries and benefits to $7.56 billion, which accounted for nearly 46.6% of its third-quarter revenue.
On an adjusted basis, the company’s profit came in at $3.91 per share for the third quarter, missing analysts’ average estimate of $3.98 per share, according to LSEG data.
HCA also tightened its forecast for 2023 profit to $17.80 to $18.50 per share, with its midpoint now lower than that of the company’s earlier forecast of $17.70 to $18.90 per share.
Its third-quarter revenue of $16.21 billion, however, managed to surpass estimates of $15.82 billion.
HCA in July said it had acquired a majority stake in Valesco, its joint venture with a unit of bankrupt physician provider service Envision Healthcare.
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