Ensign Group Expands In Arizona With Sun West Choice Buyout

The Ensign Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENSG) has closed the acquisition of Sun West Choice Healthcare and Rehabilitation. The acquired entity is a 140-bed skilled nursing facility located in Sun City West, AZ. The transaction was effective Jun 1, 2018.

The buyout is the result of relationships built with the company’s local operators over the years. With this consolidation, the acquirer would be able to add capabilities to its footprint in Arizona. Additionally, this accretive move will strengthen Ensign’s growing portfolio to 184 skilled nursing operations, of which, 22 include living operations, 51 assisted and independent living operations, 22 hospice agencies, 20 home health agencies and four home care businesses across 15 states.

The provider of skilled nursing, rehabilitative care services, home health care, hospice care and assisted living companies is the owner of 67 establishments of total 235 healthcare operations. It is also actively seeking opportunities to acquire real estate and lease out well-performing and struggling skilled nursing, assisted living and other healthcare related businesses in the United States. Sun West Choice enjoyed an 87% occupancy rate at the time of its acquisition. It also includes an adjacent 50-bed long-term acute care hospital, currently run by a third party under a lease agreement.

Ensign Group is very active when it comes to acquisitions. The company has been whetting its clinical and financial expertise through inorganic route. It boasts 234 acquisitions from a period of 18 years. Over the past few months, the company has been successfully acquiring Cedar Hills Senior Living, a 37-unit assisted living facility and Deer Creek Senior Living, a 37-unit assisted living facility, both at Texas along with Comfort Hospice Care, a hospice provider serving the communities in Las Vegas, Pahrump and the surrounding clusters in Southern Nevada.

Ensign Group continues to see a steady flow of acquisition opportunities across all its business segments and therefore we expect to hear more on this front in the coming quarters.

Shares of this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company have gained a whopping 101.91% against the industry’s decline of 3.82%.

Other Stocks to Consider

Investors interested in the Medical sector may also check out other top-ranked stocks such as, WellCare Health Plans, Inc. (NYSE:WCG) , Anthem, Inc. (NYSE:ANTM) and Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) . You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

WellCare offers managed care services for government-sponsored health care programs. The stock sports a Zacks Rank #1 and pulled off an average trailing four-quarter positive surprise of 51.70%.

Anthem operates as a health benefits company in the United States. A Zacks #2 Ranked player, the company came up with an average positive earnings surprise of 7.22%.

Humana operates as a health and well-being company in the United States. The company has a Zacks Rank of 2 and managed to deliver an average four-quarter beat of 6.16%.

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