Universal Health Services Earnings Preview

Investors never know what to expect for Universal Health Services (NYSE: UHS  ) , as it has wavered between topping and missing analysts estimates during the past fiscal year. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday. Universal Health Services through its subsidiaries is engaged in the business of owning and operating acute care hospitals, behavioral health centers, surgical hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, and radiation oncology centers.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts strongly back Universal Health Services, with 13 of 17 rating it a buy and the remainder rating it a hold. Analysts like Universal Health Services better than competitor Tenet Healthcare overall. Analysts' rating of Universal Health Services has stayed constant from three months prior.
• Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $1.88 billion in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 42.4% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.85 per share. Estimates range from $0.79 to $0.91.

What our community says:
CAPS All Stars are solidly backing the stock with 97.1% assigning it an "outperform" rating. The community at large agrees with the All Stars with 92.9% granting it a rating of "outperform." Fools have embraced Universal Health Services, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 36 posts in the past 30 days. Universal Health Services has a bullish CAPS rating of five out of five stars that is about on par with the Fool community assessment.

Management:
Universal Health Services' profit has risen year over year by an average of 21.8% over the past five quarters. Revenue has now gone up for three straight quarters.

Now let's look at how efficient management is at running the business. Traditionally, margins represent the efficiency with which companies capture portions of sales dollars. The following table shows gross, operating, and net margins over the past four quarters.

Quarter	Q2	Q1	Q4	Q3
Gross Margin	44.4%	44.9%	42.5%	43.1%
Operating Margin	12.2%	13.6%	8.4%	7.9%
Net Margin	5.4%	6.0%	2.4%	4.2%

One final thing: If you want to keep tabs on Universal Health Services movements, and for more analysis on the company, make sure you add it to your watchlist.

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