What's In The Cards For HCA Holdings (HCA) In Q1 Earnings?

HCA Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HCA) is expected to report first-quarter 2016 results on May 3. Last quarter, the company reported earnings of $1.69 per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 30 cents.

Notably, the company’s results compared favorably with the Zacks Consensus Estimate in the last four quarters, with an average beat of 5.53%.

Let's see how things are shaping up for this quarter.

Factors at Play

HCA Holdings is expected to benefit from the growing admission rate and improving payor mix based on the continuing implementation of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). The company is also poised to benefit from robust same-store growth and stringent cost management.

Earnings Whispers

Our proven model does not conclusively show that HCA Holdings is likely to beat earnings this quarter. That is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen. That is not the case here as you will see below.

Zacks ESP: The Earnings ESP for HCA Holdings is -1.34%. This is because the Most Accurate estimate stands at $1.47, while the Zacks Consensus Estimate is pegged at $1.49.

Zacks Rank: HCA Holdings carries a Zacks Rank #2, which when combined with -1.34% ESP makes surprise prediction difficult.

Meanwhile, we caution against stocks with a Zacks Ranks #4 and #5 (Sell-rated stocks) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions.

Stocks to Consider

Here are a few stocks worth considering that, per our model, have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter:

Quality Systems (NASDAQ:QSII) , with an Earnings ESP of +6.25% and a Zacks Rank #2.

Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX) , with an Earnings ESP of +1.99% and a Zacks Rank #2.

The Cooper Companies (NYSE:COO) , with an Earnings ESP of +.52% and a Zacks Rank #2.