TacticScaleWhat HCA Healthcare Does & How It Makes Money (HCA)
Updated October 2026 · reflects HCA Healthcare's latest reported financials
U.S. hospital operator running acute care hospitals and outpatient facilities. HCA earns revenue by providing inpatient and outpatient medical services at its hospitals and other facilities, and it is paid for that care by patients and their payers.
How HCA Healthcare makes money
HCA earns revenue by providing inpatient and outpatient medical services at its hospitals and other facilities, and it is paid for that care by patients and their payers. Its network of outpatient sites, physician practices and home-based services helps keep patients within its system.
What HCA Healthcare does
HCA Healthcare, founded in 1968 and headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, is a U.S. healthcare services company that owns, manages and operates hospitals and a wide range of other care facilities. Its general and acute care hospitals offer inpatient, intensive, cardiac, diagnostic and emergency care, along with outpatient surgery, lab, radiology, respiratory therapy, cardiology and physical therapy. Beyond hospitals, HCA runs ambulatory surgery centers, freestanding ERs, urgent care and walk-in clinics, imaging, radiation and oncology centers, rehab and physical therapy providers, physician practices, home health agencies, hospices and home and community-based services. The company was formerly known as HCA Holdings, Inc.
Products & services
- General and acute care hospitals
- Ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs)
- Freestanding emergency and urgent care facilities
- Diagnostic, imaging, radiation and oncology centers
- Home health agencies and hospices
- Rehabilitation and physical therapy centers
What is HCA Healthcare worth?
On an owner-earnings DCF, HCA Healthcare's most-likely value is about $410 versus a recent price near $451 (9% above fair value). But TacticScale only calls a stock undervalued when the price sits below its conservative no-growth floor (~$238) with a margin of safety — so the honest verdict here is “Fairly priced — no edge.” Fair value earns its keep only at the extremes, not in the wide middle.
Price sits in the normal range — fair value isn't actionable here; it earns its keep only when price drops below the no-growth floor, or runs to roughly double the optimistic case.
⚠ High leverage — net debt is 8.4× 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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