Stocks · Healthcare · Medical - Care Facilities
Ardent Health Inc. ARDT
$10.34 +0.88% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NYSE · Market cap $1.48B
High qualityInexpensive vs sector
Next earnings report: Nov 11, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- Diluted EPS over the last four quarters was $0.55, down 70.4% year over year.
- Net debt is 3.8× EBITDA, a high level of leverage.
- The stock is in an uptrend: above its 200-day average for 56 trading days, with the 50-day average above the 200-day.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Healthcare sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 5, 2026.
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 37%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 22%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Top 9%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRBottom 42%
- Revenue growth accelerationBottom 30%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalTop 16%
- Gross marginBottom 19%
- Operating marginTop 31%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Top 10%
- Accruals (lower is better)Top 41%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 21%
- Interest coverTop 15%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldTop 9%
- Free-cash-flow yieldTop 3%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 5%
- Sales / enterprise valueTop 4%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Bottom 40%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthBottom 26%
- 6-month returnTop 39%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Bottom 28%
- Distance from 52-week highBottom 48%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Top 39%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersTop 40%
- Consecutive EPS beatsBottom 20%
- Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 34%
- Upside to consensus price targetBottom 28%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Top 13%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsTop 37%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Top 20%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 21%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 6.7% | 3.3% | ↓ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | -42.1% | -70.4% | ↓ |
| Gross margin | 76.8% | 30.0% | ↓ |
| Operating margin | 9.9% | 7.5% | ↓ |
| FCF margin | 1.8% | 4.7% | ↑ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 3.3% | 6.7% | ↓ | Bottom 37% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | -70.4% | -42.1% | ↓ | Bottom 22% |
| Gross margin | 30.0% | 76.8% | ↓ | Bottom 19% |
| Operating margin | 7.5% | 9.9% | ↓ | Top 31% |
| Net margin | 1.2% | 4.1% | ↓ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 4.7% | 1.8% | ↑ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 9.3% | — | Top 16% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | 7.2% | — | Bottom 42% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 3.00×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -8.2%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 0.4%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- -18.6 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 3.84×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 9.7×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 0.00%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 0.88%
- Shareholder yield
- 0.88%
- Share count change, 1 year
- +1.4%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- +0.1%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 10, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 0
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 5 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +9.0%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- -0.9%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 3 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $12.67
- Target vs current price
- +22.5%
- Analysts with a rating
- 12
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 67%
- Consensus rating
- Buy
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 4, 2026 | -34.0% | +0.0% | +2.9% | +0.7% | — |
| May 5, 2026 | +55.6% | +1.5% | -0.3% | -7.1% | +7.5% |
| Mar 4, 2026 | -8.0% | +2.4% | -3.9% | -9.0% | +0.5% |
| Nov 12, 2025 | +22.6% | +0.0% | -38.1% | -39.2% | -35.9% |
| Aug 5, 2025 | +73.3% | +3.3% | +16.8% | +22.9% | +46.4% |
| May 6, 2025 | +38.1% | -1.2% | +12.6% | +10.6% | -19.5% |
| Feb 26, 2025 | +62.0% | -3.0% | +4.0% | -9.3% | +3.4% |
| Nov 6, 2024 | -43.3% | -9.9% | -5.0% | -6.8% | -15.7% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 4, 2026 | $0.12 | $0.18 | -34.0% | $1.62B |
| May 5, 2026 | $0.28 | $0.18 | +55.6% | $1.60B |
| Mar 4, 2026 | $0.32 | $0.35 | -8.0% | $1.61B |
| Nov 12, 2025 | $0.52 | $0.42 | +22.6% | $1.58B |
| Aug 5, 2025 | $0.52 | $0.30 | +73.3% | $1.65B |
| May 6, 2025 | $0.29 | $0.21 | +38.1% | $1.50B |
| Feb 26, 2025 | $0.81 | $0.50 | +62.0% | $1.61B |
| Nov 6, 2024 | $0.17 | $0.30 | -43.3% | $1.45B |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 18.8× | 9.9× | 55th | Top 9% |
| P/E (forward) | 10.8× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 7.5× | — | — | Top 5% |
| EV / Sales | 0.47× | — | — | Top 4% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 20.28% | — | — | Top 3% |
| Earnings yield | 5.32% | — | — | Top 9% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 6.0× – 45.3× since Dec 31, 2023. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
What moved the stock over the past year
- Price return, 1 year
- -20.9%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- -70.4%
- Change in P/E multiple
- +230.8%
Most of the move came from earnings growth.
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✗ Price above 20-day average
- ✗ Price above 50-day average
- ✓ Price above 200-day average
- ✓ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✗ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 0
- Days above the 200-day average
- 56
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- +1.9%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- +2.0%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -4.8%
- Distance from 200-day average
- +6.6%
- RSI (14)
- 42.3
- Relative volume
- 0.63×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 33.3%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 5th percentile · Low for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 0.59
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.19
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -32.0%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -61.2%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 16, 2024 | Jun 3, 2026 | -61.2% | 407 days | Not yet recovered |
| Aug 30, 2024 | Sep 18, 2024 | -13.9% | 12 days | 20 days (Oct 16, 2024) |
| Aug 1, 2024 | Aug 9, 2024 | -13.0% | 6 days | 12 days (Aug 27, 2024) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $1.48B
- P/E (TTM)
- 18.8
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $0.55
- Revenue (TTM)
- $6.41B
- 52-week range
- $7.71 – $15.48
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $4.87B | $5.13B | $5.41B | $5.97B | $6.32B |
| Gross profit | $3.94B | $4.17B | $5.27B | $4.93B | $6.17B |
| Operating income | $436.6M | $217.0M | $229.5M | $405.8M | $325.6M |
| Net income | $154.3M | $188.9M | $50.3M | $210.3M | $135.8M |
| EPS (diluted) | $1.08 | $1.32 | $0.35 | $1.58 | $0.96 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $1.45B | $1.61B | $1.50B | $1.65B | $1.58B | $1.61B | $1.60B | $1.62B |
| Net income | $26.3M | $114.2M | $41.4M | $73.0M | -$23.5M | $45.0M | $39.9M | $16.9M |
| EPS (diluted) | $0.19 | $0.86 | $0.29 | $0.52 | -$0.17 | $0.32 | $0.28 | $0.12 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $146.9M | -$38.4M | $221.7M | $315.0M | $470.5M |
| Capital expenditure | -$139.0M | -$151.1M | -$137.4M | -$187.5M | -$211.9M |
| Free cash flow | $7.9M | -$189.5M | $84.3M | $127.5M | $258.6M |
| Dividends paid | -$62.1M | -$174.8M | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Net share buybacks | $0 | $0 | $0 | $208.7M | $0 |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $724.5M
- Total assets
- $5.28B
- Total liabilities
- $3.54B
- Total debt
- $2.27B
- Net debt
- $1.54B
- Shareholders’ equity
- $1.35B
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 10, 2026).
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 4,576,550
- Days to cover
- 9.81
- Change vs previous report
- +17.4%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.