Ensign Group (ENSG) On Buyout Spree To Enrich Portfolio

The Ensign Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENSG) recently announced that a unit of Cornerstone Healthcare, Inc., Ensign’s home health and hospice portfolio subsidiary, purchased the assets of Preceptor Health Care. The buyout was effective Jun 1, 2019.

With this deal, Cornerstone would be able to collaborate with Ensign Group’s skilled nursing and senior living facilities in Eastern Wisconsin. This transaction is also expected to allow the company to improve its health outcomes and reduce the re-hospitalization fees for patients.

Preceptor Health Care with its dedicated team offers unparalleled home health, hospice and therapy services in Eastern Wisconsin. It is thus, a perfect partner for a strategic relationship. This move in turn, has helped Ensign Group boost its capabilities.

The company also announced that it has purchased the real estate and operations of Golden Palms Rehabilitation and Retirement, effective Jun 1, 2019. This buyout complements its other five operations in South Texas. Notably, Golden Palms is the ideal choice for Ensign, well-equipped with outstanding physical facilities and trained professionals, who take good care of its residents.

These purchases have added to the company’s evolving portfolio and it now runs 198 skilled nursing facilities across 16 states. It also partly owns the real estate, regulating 77 of its 254 healthcare operations.

The company is also actively eyeing opportunities to buy strategic and underperforming home health, hospice and home care operations across the United States.

It boasts a strong inorganic growth story having closed several acquisitions in the past decade. Its historical improvement has been mainly driven by its proficiency in acquiring real estate or leasing post-acute care operations and transforming the same into market leaders. With each acquisition, the company honed its expertise, both clinically and financially. We expect all these buyouts to bode well for the company’s long-term growth.

Shares of this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company have surged 45.3% in the past year against its industry’s decline of 1.5%.

Other Stocks to Consider

Investors interested in the same space might also look into some other top-ranked stocks like HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) , Molina Healthcare, Inc (NYSE:MOH) and WellCare Health Plans, Inc. (NYSE:WCG) . You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

HCA Healthcare provides health care services. In the last four quarters, the company delivered average beat of 15.74%. It carries a Zacks Rank of 2.

Molina Healthcare offers Medicaid-related solutions to meet the health care needs of low-income families and individuals. It sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). In the trailing four quarters, the company came up with average beat of 88.17%.

WellCare Health offers managed care services to government-sponsored health care programs. The company has a Zacks Rank of 2 and pulled off average positive surprise of 13.52% in the preceding four quarters.

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