5 Stocks to Buy Before Their Earnings Reports

3. HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 66  

Earnings Due On: April 22

HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) provides health care services. At the beginning of this year, the company had announced that it would be building five new full-service hospitals in Texas. HCA already operates 45 hospitals and 632 affiliated sites that cater to health needs of different types of patients. The increase in the aging population has given a slight boost to the stock in the past few months. Over the last year, the shares have jumped 33%. 

On March 28, Wells Fargo analyst Ste Baxter initiated coverage of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) stock with an Equal Weight rating and a price target of $267, noting that the firm was a “best-in-class” hospital company with a strong record of growth. 

At the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, 66 hedge funds in the database of Insider Monkey held stakes worth $2.9 billion in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA), compared to 72 the preceding quarter worth $3.3 billion.

In its Q3 2021 investor letter, First Eagle Investment Management, an asset management firm, highlighted a few stocks and HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:

“HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) owns and operates 185 hospitals and approximately 2,000 sites of care in the US and UK. Admissions to its facilities, depressed during the worst of the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020, have begun to rebound. HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) reported a nearly 20% year-over-year increase in admissions during the second quarter and a 14% increase in revenue, and forecast that volume would continue to improve throughout the year. We maintain our positive opinion of the company’s management team, believing them to be effective stewards of both the balance sheet and HCA’s business operations.”