Here's Why You Should Add DaVita (DVA) To Your Portfolio Now

DaVita Inc. (NYSE:DVA) is likely to gain from the promising fourth-quarter 2019 results and a raised guidance for 2020.

In a year’s time, shares of DaVita have rallied 45.5% compared with the industry's 13.5% rise. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 Index has rallied 21%.

With a market capitalization of $11.02 billion, DaVita is a leading provider of dialysis services in the United States to patients suffering from chronic kidney failure. The company’s earnings are anticipated to grow 20.4% over the next five years. The company’s trailing four-quarter positive earnings surprise is 10.8%, on average.

Let’s delve deeper into the factors that substantiate DaVita’s Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) at present.

Factors Driving DaVita

DaVita reported fourth-quarter 2019 adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.86, which shows a massive surge from the year-ago quarter’s 90 cents.

Total revenues in the quarter rose 2.7% year over year to $2.90 billion.

Notably, the company performed impressively in the United States and abroad.

Total U.S. dialysis treatments in the fourth quarter were 7,681,462, or an average of 96,744 treatments per day, up 1.7% year over year.

Also, the company provided dialysis services to around 235,500 patients at 3,012 outpatient dialysis centers, of which 2,753 centers were located in the United States and 259 centers in 10 countries outside the United States.

Resultantly, in the fourth quarter, net dialysis and related lab patient service revenues totaled $2.77 billion, up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis.

Reflective of these, DaVita issued a strong guidance for 2020.

The company now expects adjusted EPS between $5.75 and $6.25. This compares to the earlier projected band of $5.25-$5.75.

The company also expects 2020 revenues between $11.50 billion and $11.70 billion.

Which Way Are Estimates Headed?

For 2020, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues is pegged at $11.61 billion. For adjusted EPS, the same stands at $6.06.

Other Key Picks

Other top-ranked stocks in the broader medical space are AmerisourceBergen Corporation (NYSE:ABC) , Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) and Patterson Companies (NASDAQ:PDCO) , each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here..

AmerisourceBergen’s long-term earnings are expected to grow 7.4%.

Cardinal Health’s long-term earnings are projected to rise 6.2%.

Patterson long-term earnings are estimated to climb 6.4%.

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