5 best US hospital stocks for 2022

Highlights

• Tenet Healthcare Corporation (NYSE:THC) operates approximately 60 hospitals and over 460 healthcare facilities.
• Community Health Systems, Inc. (NYSE:CYH) owns around 84 hospitals, its P/E ratio is 4.32.
• The Joint Corp. (NASDAQ:JYNT) owns, operates, manages, and supports chiropractic clinics. Its stock rose 115.8% in one year.

The Omicron variant caused around 98% of Covid-19 cases in the previous week in the US as per the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates released Tuesday. The infections are rising fast, surpassing the surge rate in the earlier variants of the virus.

Since Christmas Day, infections have risen rapidly in most US states. However, the hospitalization rate is not high compared to the previous variants. However, the seven-day average of new hospital patients with confirmed or suspected Omicron infection grew more than last January’s records.

Scientists are trying to estimate the rate of infection turning into serious illness, hospitalization, and deaths. The new cases and hospital admissions have grown more than the previous year, but the ICU stays are less so far.

The probable cause can be the lag between catching the infection and potentially getting severely ill or dying. Still more time is needed to assess Omicron’s effects thoroughly.

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Amid this, the healthcare system and hospitals have been readily providing their services to the public since the first wave of infections.

With coronavirus coming back again and again through its variants, hospital facilities and service stocks may stay afloat. Here we discuss five stocks that gave more than a 60% return in one year.

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Tenet Healthcare Corporation (NYSE:THC)

Tenet is a healthcare service company that operates approximately 60 hospitals and over 460 healthcare facilities through subsidiaries, partnerships, and joint ventures. The facilities include surgical hospitals, imaging centers, ambulatory surgery centers etc. Its segments include hospital operations, ambulatory care and the Conifer segment, which provides value-based care services and revenue cycle management to hospitals. 

Its current market capitalization is US$8.23 billion, and its P/E ratio is 7.79. 

For the nine months ended September 30, 2021, the company earned net operating revenue of US$14.6 billion compared to US$12.7 billion in the previous year. Its net income came in at US$665 million or US$6.13 per share diluted compared to the net loss of US$15 million or US$0.14 per share diluted in the nine months till September 30, 2020. Its cash and equivalents were US$2.29 billion as of September 30, 2021.

The THC stock traded between US$83.6899 and US$43.87 in the last 52 weeks. It closed at US$76.82 on January 12.

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Apollo Medical Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMEH)

Apollo Medical is a healthcare company. It operates through its subsidiaries and provides care coordination services to families, patients, primary care physicians, acute care hospitals, specialists, physician groups and health plans. 

With a market capitalization of US$3.57 billion, it has a P/E ratio of 40.60. Its total revenue was US$578.8 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2021, a 13% increase YoY compared to US$510.4 million for the previous year period. The net income came in at US$68.6 million compared to US$109.4 million for the nine months in 2020.

The EPS diluted was US$1.33 for the nine months ended September 30, 2021, with a 77% growth YoY compared to EPS diluted of US$0.75 in the corresponding period in 2020. Its cash and cash equivalents were US$204.8 million on September 30, 2021. 

The AMEH stock traded between US$133.23 and US$20.5103 in one year. It closed on January 12, at US$64.28.

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Community Health Systems, Inc. (NYSE:CYH)

Community Health Systems operates general acute care hospitals as well as outpatient facilities in the US. It owns and operates hospitals and provides healthcare services through its affiliated businesses. The company owns around 84 hospitals, where 82 are general acute care hospitals, and two are stand-alone psychiatric hospitals for rehabilitation.

Its market capitalization is US$1.68 billion, and P/E ratio is 4.32.

For the nine months ended September 30, 2021, the company’s net operating revenues were US$9.14 billion compared to US$8.67 billion in 2020. The net income was US$52 million or US$0.40 per share diluted compared to US$200 million or US$1.74 per share diluted for the nine months ended September 30, 2020. 

 The cash and equivalents of the company were US$1.29 billion as of September 30, 2021, while the same was US$1.68 billion as of December 31, 2020. 

The stock touched a highest of US$17.04 and the lowest of US$7.32 in the last 52 weeks. It closed at US$12.75 on January 12.

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Corvel Corp (NASDAQ:CRVL)

Corvel Corporation provides managed care and medical cost containment services for workers' compensation benefits, group health insurance benefits, and insurance claims. It uses technologies such as AI, machine learning and natural language processing for managing healthcare costs.  The company provides services to insurance companies, government entities, third party administration and self-administered employers. 

The company went public in 1991 and currently has a market capitalization of US$3.50 billion and a P/E ratio of 60.92. 

For the six months ended September 30, 2021, the company posted revenue of US$310 million compared to US$265 million for the same period in 2020. The net income was US$32.9 million or US$1.81 per share diluted compared to US$20.2 million or US$1.11 per share diluted for the same period in 2020.

Its stock traded in the range of US$213.375 to US$97.39 in the last 52 weeks and closed at US$197.73 on January 12.    

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Source – Pixabay

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The Joint Corp. (NASDAQ:JYNT)

The company owns, operates, manages, and supports chiropractic clinics. It manages them directly or through franchising, sale of regional developer rights and management agreements. The company provides various membership and wellness packages. It updates the patients’ data digitally in compliance with medical record security and privacy regulations. 

The company has a market capitalization of US$894.35 million. Its P/E ratio is 52.38.  

For the nine months ended September 30, 2021, the company earned a revenue of US$58.76 million compared to US$41.64 million for the same period in the previous year. Its net income came in at US$6.93 million or US$0.46 per share diluted compared to US$2.53 billion or US$0.17 per share diluted for the corresponding nine months in 2020.

Its cash and cash equivalents were US$19.54 million as of September 30, 2021, versus US$20.55 million as of December 31, 2020. 

The JYNT stock traded in the range of US$111.055 to US$27.5101 in the last 52 weeks. The stock closed at US$62.05 on January 12.

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Bottom line

With the availability of vaccines, there is a lesser risk of severity and deaths; however, hospitals and related service providers are always there to serve the people. Meanwhile, the NYSE Healthcare Index provided a 14.64% gain in one year, whereas the S&P 500 Index rose 24.06% in the same period. Amid the presence of viruses and other diseases, these stocks might stay active.