TacticScaleWhat DaVita Does & How It Makes Money (DVA)
Updated October 2026 · reflects DaVita's latest reported financials
US kidney dialysis provider operating outpatient and home dialysis centers. DaVita mainly earns fees for dialysis treatments and related lab tests it provides to patients with end-stage kidney disease.
How DaVita makes money
DaVita mainly earns fees for dialysis treatments and related lab tests it provides to patients with end-stage kidney disease. It also earns revenue from managing dialysis centers for others, from integrated care arrangements where it takes on risk for patients' overall care, and from research, physician and transplant software services.
What DaVita does
DaVita Inc. is a US provider of kidney dialysis services for patients with chronic kidney failure (end-stage renal disease, ESRD). It operates outpatient dialysis centers and also provides hemodialysis in hospitals and in patients' homes. It supports this network with clinical laboratories that run routine dialysis tests and other tests ordered by physicians for ESRD patients, and it provides management and administrative services to outpatient dialysis centers. Beyond dialysis, DaVita offers integrated care and disease management for patients in risk-based and other integrated care arrangements, as well as comprehensive kidney care, physician services, clinical research programs and a transplant software business. The company was incorporated in 1994 and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado. It used the name DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc. until September 2016, when it became DaVita Inc.
Products & services
- Outpatient dialysis centers
- Home hemodialysis services
- Hospital inpatient dialysis
- Clinical laboratory services for ESRD patients
- Integrated and comprehensive kidney care
- Dialysis center management and administrative services
What is DaVita worth?
On an owner-earnings DCF, DaVita's most-likely value is about $356 versus a recent price near $179 (99% below fair value). But TacticScale only calls a stock undervalued when the price sits below its conservative no-growth floor (~$224) with a margin of safety — so the honest verdict here is “Deeply discounted.” Fair value earns its keep only at the extremes, not in the wide middle.
On the financials alone, $179 is below even the no-growth floor ($224); the market's discount — expectations and sentiment beyond the numbers — is pricing in ≈ -2.7%/yr. A bargain only if that pessimism is overdone.
⚠ High leverage — net debt is 7.8× annual cash flow. Net debt is subtracted from this fair value, but refinancing at higher rates, principal timing, and share dilution aren’t modeled — the equity can be worth far less if cash flow weakens.
Analysis, not advice. Fair value is a margin-of-safety estimate from a deterministic owner-earnings DCF, not a price target or recommendation. See the full breakdown →
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