Hospital Stocks' Q2 Earnings Lined Up For Jul 29: ACHC, LPNT

Medical is one of the seven sectors in the S&P 500 cohort that is expected to report earnings growth in the second quarter. The sector is likely to record earnings growth of 2.3% on revenue improvement of 7.7%.

We note that 208 S&P companies have already disclosed their numbers, with 73.1% of them beating the EPS estimates and 51.9% managing a revenue beat.

As per the latest Zacks Earnings Trend report, overall second-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies are expected to be down 3.5% from the year-ago quarter. Also, revenues are estimated to decline 0.4%.

Hospital is an important component of the Medical sector and is expected follow the earnings growth trajectory in the quarter.

Here, we take a sneak peek at two Hospital stocks scheduled to report their second-quarter figures on Jul 29:

Headquartered in Franklin, TN, Acadia Healthcare Company Inc (NASDAQ:ACHC) provides behavioral health care services in the United States and the United Kingdom. Acadia Healthcare continues to add beds to its facilities, which is the key growth driver in our view.

However, our proven model does not conclusively show that the company is likely to beat earnings, given the combination of a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) and Earnings ESP of 1.39%.

That is because, as per our model, a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) to beat estimates. Simultaneously, we caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or 5 (Sell-rated) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions.

We also note that the results of Acadia Healthcare compared favorably with the Zacks Consensus Estimate in the last four quarters, with an average beat of 4.64%.

LifePoint Health Inc (NASDAQ:LPNT) is a leading hospital company dedicated to providing patient-centred care in rural and non-urban communities.

Notably, the acquisition of two Providence Hospitals in Columbia and South Carolina are expected to be significantly accretive for the company. Moreover, the establishment of the National Quality Program in collaboration with Duke University Health System is expected to enhance the company’s market position significantly.

Nevertheless, our proven model does not conclusively show that the company is likely to beat earnings, given the combination of a Zacks Rank #4 and Earnings ESP of -1.11%

We note that LifePoint Health’s results compared favorably with the Zacks Consensus Estimate in the last four quarters, with an average beat of 2.24%.