HCA Healthcare Inc

HCA Healthcare is considered a 'best in class' operator within the healthcare sector, capturing market share across a fragmented industry. The scale of HCA Healthcare provides it with significant bargaining power, which drives low operating costs and results in a better value proposition than its competitors. The company is part of our 'Good/Great Operators' category, which collectively accounts for 27.2% of the Fund. Its weighted average P/E ratio is 12.4 times, with a discount to our valuation of 6%. This positions HCA Healthcare as a compelling investment opportunity as it continues to perform strongly in its field.

HCA Healthcare is considered a 'best in class' operator within the healthcare sector, capturing market share across a fragmented industry. The scale of HCA Healthcare provides it with significant bargaining power and drives low operating costs, resulting in a better value proposition than its competitors. The company is part of our 'Good/Great Operators' category, which collectively accounts for 27.2% of the Fund. Its weighted average P/E ratio is 13.0, with a discount to our valuation of 11.4 times, indicating it is attractively priced relative to its earnings potential.

HCA Healthcare is a significant holding in the Fund, with a weight of 6.0% at the end of the quarter. It contributed positively to the Fund's performance, returning 1.5% for the quarter and 37.7% over the last 12 months. However, there is no explicit directional argument made regarding its future performance or valuation in the provided passages.

We continued to trim our investment in HCA Healthcare (HCA), the leader in for-profit hospital and outpatient services in the U.S. after strong share price appreciation. While we continue to retain an investment in the company, it is no longer a top 10 Fund holding. Today, expectations for operating conditions are much more balanced, the HCA share price has increased materially, and our assessment of risk adjusted return potential from the current share price is less favourable.

HCA Healthcare, the hospital and ambulatory site owner/operator, was up 15.4% and released its full year results. Management provided 2025 guidance of revenue up 5.2% and EPS up 13.4%, which is a little above our estimate of its maintainable earnings. We suspect the concerns over possible regulatory changes have been put on the back burner whilst the market digests the tariff implications. Given its current price and our view of its value, we are reasonably comfortable with our position.