Hospital operators fall after Raymond James cuts ratings on near-term challenges

  Shares of hospital operators HCA Healthcare HCA.N, Tenet Healthcare THC.N and Community Health Systems CYH.N fall between 1% and 6% in early trading

** Brokerage Raymond James downgrades hospital group ahead of potential headwinds including an expected reduction in 2026 in the number of patients seeking hospital services under Obamacare plans, which currently represent a high single digit percentage of revenues

** Downgrades HCA to "market perform" from "outperform" and THC to "outperform" from "strong buy" citing that their revenues are most likely to be hurt due to a reduction in volumes

** Brokerage expects about 20% drop in Obamacare patients across the sector, due to a new republican run government, and additional subsidies related to these plans for hospitals ending in 2025

** Brokerage also cuts CYH to "underperform" from "market perform" and maintains rating on UHS at "market perform"

** Adds that potential reform of state-backed Medicaid insurance plans is another point of risk for hospitals as patients from these plans have represented an improving source of earnings and margins

** As of last close, HCA up 20.5% , UHS up 29%, CYH up 13% and THC up 90%

https://www.xm.com/au/research/markets/allNews/reuters/hospital-operators-fall-after-raymond-james-cuts-ratings-on-nearterm-challenges-53974448