HCA Healthcare (HCA) Boasts Earnings & Price Momentum: Should You Buy?

Core Insights - Zacks Premium offers various tools for investors to identify stocks to buy, sell, and track hot industries [1] - The Focus List is a curated portfolio of 50 stocks aimed at long-term investors, expected to outperform the market over the next 12 months [3][4] Performance Metrics - The Focus List gained 13.85% in 2020, outperforming the S&P 500's return of 9.38% [5] - Cumulatively, the Focus List has returned 2,519.23% from February 1, 1996, to March 31, 2021, compared to the S&P's 854.95% [5] Methodology - Stocks for the Focus List are selected based on earnings estimate revisions, which reflect analysts' expectations of growth and profitability [6][7] - The Zacks Rank, a proprietary stock-rating model, uses changes in quarterly earnings expectations to help investors build a successful portfolio [8] Zacks Rank Factors - The Zacks Rank is based on four main factors: Agreement, Magnitude, Upside, and Surprise, which are recalculated nightly [9] - Stocks in the Focus List are primarily from 1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy) ranked companies, indicating a bullish earnings consensus among analysts [9] Case Study: HCA Healthcare - HCA Healthcare, the largest non-governmental operator of acute care hospitals in the U.S., has seen its stock increase by 227.03% since being added to the Focus List [10][11] - The Zacks Consensus Estimate for HCA's fiscal 2024 earnings has increased by $1.49 to $22.46, with an expected earnings growth of 18.2% for the current fiscal year [11]