UHS US S&P 500Russell 1000 Earnings call · transcribed from the recording
Universal Health Services (UHS) · Q3 2026 results and valuation
Share price: $196.77 · 2026-11-11
Universal Health Services operates healthcare facilities and provides medical services. The company operates in the United States and the United Kingdom, serving patients through various healthcare programs. Source: 10-K annual report (2026-02-25)
Results Q3 2026 vs Q2 2026 · previous quarter · published 27 Oct 2026 and 28 Jul 2026
Management sounded restrained, in its script and in answers to analysts.
Only a basic analysis is available for this company at the moment.
1 · Numbers
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Figures not yet filed
Outlook given
2 · How management spoke
Restrained
Less upbeat than 77% of company calls
Answers to analysts: restrained, in line with the script.
Similar to last call.
3 · What stood out
Guidance
As of September 30, 2026, Universal Health Services had $735 million repurchase authorization available pursuant to its stock buyback program, and it…
Valuation
Is Universal Health Services undervalued?
Reverse DCF on net income from the last full fiscal year (no meaningful free cash flow: a bank, insurer or a year of negative cash flow) (2025-12-31), grown for 10 years, discounted back, plus a terminal value. “Implied growth” is the rate the current price assumes.
At 9.0% growth a year (3-year revenue growth), the model's fair value is $508.77 a share — the stock trades 61% below it. Today's price assumes −4.1% growth a year.
Current price
$196.77
close of 2026-11-11
Market implies growth of iThe yearly free-cash-flow growth, for the next 10 years, that today’s share price already assumes. If you believe the company grows faster than this, the stock is cheap under this model; slower, and it is expensive.
-4.1% for 10 yrs
Fair value / share
$508.77
Buy below
$381.58
Price vs fair value
Undervalued 61%
Price vs buy-below price
Undervalued 48%
Read between the lines
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Key theme
Medicaid work requirements
Source quote
“On the headwind side, and I think you mentioned a couple of these things, the biggest swing factors relate to regulatory changes... ...to rebuild census in a deliberate manner. We also had a material amount of prior year DPP benefit in calendar year 26 that will not repeat in 2027.”
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Guidance
During the quarter, Universal Health Services also benefited from the approval of the Florida DPP program for 2025 which was not contemplated in its original outlook. Continued expense management, and exchange trends that progressed in line with its expectations. From an operational perspective, I want to highlight the investments it is making to expand capacity in the communities that it serves.
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Guidance
During the third quarter of 2026, Universal Health Services spent $214 million on capital expenditures and it anticipates capital expenditures to be slightly below $1 billion for the full year...
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Figure
Other operating expenses increased primarily due to Universal Health Services' health plan, which experienced revenue growth of approximately 25% in the third quarter.
Tone
How upbeat the language was, compared with other companiesiTone counts positive minus negative finance words, adjusted for length. Executives mostly speak positively, so the labels compare each call with every company's latest call: “typical” is the middle third, “very upbeat” the top tenth, “cautious” the bottom tenth.. Dot: Q3 2026. Ring: Q2 2026.
Script and answers carried a similar tone, so the script's message held up under questioning.
Sentences that drove the tone
“For the third quarter of 2026, behavioral health segment, same facilities, salaries, wages, and benefits per adjusted patient day increased 3.6% over the prior year, improving moving further on a...”
“Turning to behavioral health, third quarter same facility net revenue increased 4.0%, supported by a 2.1% increase in same facility revenue per adjusted patient day and a 2.1% increase in...”
“Yeah, we think that historically the plan has operated with either low negative single-digit margins or low positive single-digit margins.”
Full figures
Q3 2026 figures are not available yet: the company files its quarterly report (10-Q) a few weeks after the call. This page compares what management said; the figures are added when the report is filed.
Topics
Most discussed now
- These items included the benefit from the expansion of existing Medicaid supplemental programs in several states partially offset by…
- Universal Health Services' recent investments in acute care inpatient capacity helped us meet favorable demand in its markets.
- Excluding these items, adjusted EBITDA less NCI was below Universal Health Services' internal expectations despite modest sequential…
- To distinguish reported results from underlying performance in the third quarter of 2026, three specific items not contemplated in…
Faded since Q2 2026
- Dropped Universal Health Services is very pleased to have achieved joint commission accreditation for this de novo hospital in July.
- Dropped Universal Health Services continues to invest in ambulatory surgery centers where they are appropriate and where they make economic sense.
- Fading Universal Health Services continues to see favorable demand trends across its markets, supporting confidence in the long-term need for…
- Fading Same facility acute care emergency department visits increased 4% while same facility surgeries decreased 0.8% as compared to the second...
Latest announcements
Official filings, newest first. Summaries are generated from each filing and its attachment; every figure is checked against the source.
- Results of operations · SEC 8-K
Net revenues for the third quarter of 2026 were $4.733 billion, an increase of 5.3% compared to $4.495 billion in the third quarter of 2025.
- Material agreement; New financial obligation · SEC 8-K
The company entered into a Third Supplemental Indenture on August 20, 2026, governing 5.500% Senior Secured Notes due 2031 and 6.000% Senior Secured Notes due 2036.
- New financial obligation; Other events · SEC 8-K
Universal Health Services, Inc. completed the acquisition of Talkspace, Inc. on August 17, 2026, by borrowing $400 million under a delayed draw term loan facility and additional funds from a revolving credit facility.
- Material agreement · SEC 8-K
Universal Health Services, Inc. entered into an underwriting agreement on August 11, 2026, for the issuance and sale of $1,100,000,000 in senior secured notes.
- Results of operations · SEC 8-K
Universal Health Services reported net revenues of $4.638 billion for the second quarter of 2026, an 8.3% increase from $4.284 billion in the second quarter of 2025.
- Material agreement; New financial obligation · SEC 8-K
Universal Health Services, Inc. entered into a Twelfth Amendment to its Credit Agreement on July 20, 2026, adding a new incremental delayed draw term loan facility of up to $700 million.
- Shareholder vote results · SEC 8-K · routine
- Director or officer change · SEC 8-K
Matthew J. Peterson resigned as Executive Vice President and President of Behavioral Health, effective June 19, 2026, with Marc D. Miller assuming interim responsibilities for the division.
Balance sheet & ownership
From SEC filings; short interest is FINRA data via Yahoo. Collected 2026-10-13.
Cash & runway
Cash & equivalents
$138.8M
2026-06-30
Implied runway
—
operating cash flow positive over the TTM window
Dilution
weighted-average basic shares, per quarter. Change: -7.3% YoY, -2.3% QoQ.
| Quarter | Shares |
|---|---|
| Q3 2024 | 66.5M |
| Q1 2025 | 65.0M |
| Q2 2025 | 64.4M |
| Q3 2025 | 63.0M |
| Q1 2026 | 61.1M |
| Q2 2026 | 59.7M |
Insider transactions
Form 4 open-market trades (codes S/P), trailing 12 months. 29 filings parsed.
Sold by insiders
5.5K shares
$1.2M · 5 transactions
Bought by insiders
0 shares
0 transactions
Net direction
net selling
Catalyst calendar
management-stated targets — from the latest earnings call; plans, not promises.
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mid August of this year
expected closing of the pending Talkspace acquisition
Source quote
“Within our behavioral health segment, we continue to make strong progress in our integration planning for the pending Talkspace acquisition. Which we expect to close in mid August of this year.”
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full year
volume guidance for the full year
Source quote
“we believe it is appropriate to fine tune our volume guidance for the full year to a range of 1.5% to 2.5% or 50 basis points lower at the midpoint of our prior range to reflect the year to date trends.”
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full year
pretax impact
Source quote
“Based on the trends during the first half of 2026, we expect the full year pretax impact to be within the upper half of our originally contemplated guidance range or approximately $85 million”
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full year
volume guidance for the full year
Source quote
“we believe it is appropriate to fine tune our volume guidance for the full year to a range of 1.0% to 2.0% 100 basis points lower than the prior range at the midpoint to reflect year to date trends and an outlook for second half volumes to be similar to Q2 performance.”
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balance of 2026
operating losses
Source quote
“We expect operating losses to run between $5 million and $10 million per quarter for the balance of 2026.”