Executive Summary
HCA Healthcare delivered a solid Q4 2024 performance with positive revenue momentum and substantial operating cash flow, underscoring the ongoing resilience of the US hospital network in a challenging reimbursement landscape. Revenue for the quarter was $18.285 billion, up 5.68% year-over-year and 4.56% quarter-over-quarter, while net income reached $1.438 billion and diluted EPS stood at $5.63-$5.70 depending on the metric. Despite a meaningful improvement in operating metrics on a sequential basis, gross profit margin remained modest at 15.56% (gross profit of $2.846 billion) and net profit margin stood at 7.86%. These figures reflect high fixed-cost structures, ongoing capex requirements, and a payer environment that continues to pressure margins.
Key Performance Indicators
QoQ: 18.09% | YoY:-80.66%
QoQ: 13.23% | YoY:-10.52%
Key Insights
Revenue: $18.285B (YoY +5.68%, QoQ +4.56%). Gross Profit: $2.846B; Gross Profit Margin: 15.56% (YoY margin impact noted as -80.66% in the dataset, with QoQ improvement of 18.09%). Operating Income: $2.846B; Operating Margin: 15.56% (YoY +1.61%, QoQ +18.09%). Net Income: $1.438B; Net Margin: 7.86% (YoY -10.52%, QoQ +13.23%). EPS: $5.70 (diluted $5.63); YoY EPS change -5.79%, QoQ +15.38%. EBITDA: $3.517B; EBITDA Margin: 19.23%....
Financial Highlights
Revenue: $18.285B (YoY +5.68%, QoQ +4.56%). Gross Profit: $2.846B; Gross Profit Margin: 15.56% (YoY margin impact noted as -80.66% in the dataset, with QoQ improvement of 18.09%). Operating Income: $2.846B; Operating Margin: 15.56% (YoY +1.61%, QoQ +18.09%). Net Income: $1.438B; Net Margin: 7.86% (YoY -10.52%, QoQ +13.23%). EPS: $5.70 (diluted $5.63); YoY EPS change -5.79%, QoQ +15.38%. EBITDA: $3.517B; EBITDA Margin: 19.23%.
Income Statement
| Metric |
Value |
YoY Change |
QoQ Change |
| Revenue |
18.29B |
5.68% |
4.56% |
| Gross Profit |
2.85B |
-80.66% |
18.09% |
| Operating Income |
2.85B |
1.61% |
18.09% |
| Net Income |
1.44B |
-10.52% |
13.23% |
| EPS |
5.70 |
-5.79% |
15.38% |
Key Financial Ratios
operatingProfitMargin
15.6%
operatingCashFlowPerShare
$10.14
freeCashFlowPerShare
$5.05
dividendPayoutRatio
11.5%
Management Commentary
No earnings call transcript data is available in the provided dataset. Consequently, there are no management quotes or theme-based highlights to extract or summarize. Once transcript access is provided, key themes can be grouped by strategy, operations, and market conditions with direct quotations and context.
Forward Guidance
No explicit forward-looking guidance or targets were included in the provided data. Given the Q4 2024 results and the balance-sheet metrics, investors should watch: (1) liquidity and leverage trajectory as the company progresses through deleveraging given total debt of $45.237B and negative equity of -$2.499B; (2) margin recovery potential as payer mix optimization, labor cost management, and efficiency initiatives take hold; (3) capital allocation cadence, particularly free cash flow generation ($1.274B FCF) and capital allocation decisions such as share repurchases ($1.7B) and ongoing capex; and (4) resilience to regulatory and reimbursement shifts in the US healthcare system.