Ardent Health, Inc. (ARDT)

Key figures

The last twelve months reported, with the latest price and balance sheet.

Revenue, last twelve months

$6.4B

Revenue growth

3.3%

Net income, last twelve months

$78.2M

Earnings per share

$0.55

Operating margin

3.2%

Net margin

1.2%

Free cash flow

$304.8M

Return on equity

5.8%

Market value

$1.7B

Price to earnings

21.7x

Cash

$724.5M

Debt

$1.1B

Debt to equity

0.82

Shares outstanding

141.9M

Financial statements

Revenue, profit and cash flow by fiscal year, each year linked to its annual report.

By quarter

What the company said with its results

From the second quarter 2026 results, filed 4 August 2026.

• Revenue declined year over year. Total revenue fell 1.4% to $1,622 million, mainly because net patient service revenue per adjusted admission was 3.9% lower.
• Net income and EPS declined. Net income attributable to Ardent Health was $17 million, or $0.12 per diluted share, against $73 million, or $0.52, a year earlier.
• Adjusted EBITDA declined 32.3%. Adjusted EBITDA was $115 million, against $170 million a year earlier; Adjusted EBITDAR was $157 million.
• Admissions down, adjusted admissions up. Admissions fell 1.0% while adjusted admissions, which weight outpatient activity, rose 2.5% to 89,326.
• Inpatient surgeries fell most. Total surgeries decreased 2.9%, with inpatient surgeries down 7.5% and outpatient surgeries down 0.9%.
• Volumes recovered after early June. Management said volumes improved after its intra-quarter update in early June, following lower surgeries and admissions earlier in the quarter.
• Emergency visits flat, encounters up. Emergency room visits rose 0.2% to 156,896, while total encounters rose 6.0% to 1,581,207.
• Prior-year state payment benefit lapped. Revenue per adjusted admission fell 3.9%, largely because the prior-year quarter recorded two quarters of New Mexico directed payment benefit.
• Improved payor contract in key market. Management cited an improved payor contract in a key market as one of the actions taken to address earnings pressure.
• Net patient revenue per admission lower. Net patient service revenue per adjusted admission was $17,864, down 3.9% from $18,581 a year earlier.
• Adjusted EBITDA margin compressed. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 7.1%, against 10.3% a year earlier; the six-month margin was 7.4% against 8.5%.
• Salaries and benefits rose as share. Salaries and benefits were 41.7% of revenue, against 40.8% a year earlier, with the dollar amount up from $671.7 million to $676.2 million.
• Professional fees rose with restructuring. Professional fees were 20.2% of revenue, against 18.1%, with the increase tied to restructuring and system conversion work.
• Other expenses for restructuring rose. Other expenses covering development, restructuring and system conversion were $27.2 million in the quarter, against $4.8 million a year earlier.

Company events

The newest 8-K filings of 22 held.

Every filing

The newest filings with the SEC of 76 held.

Insider trades

Form 4 trades by officers, directors and 10% owners, last 12 months.

Planned insider sales

Form 144 notices, filed when the sell order goes to the broker.

Short interest

Shares sold short and not yet bought back, on each FINRA settlement date.

Funds that hold it

From each fund's latest Form 13F.

157 funds held it at 30 Jun 2026: 87 added and 35 trimmed in the quarter. The largest:

Peers

Companies in the same industry.

• HCA Healthcare, Inc. (HCA): revenue $78.0B, market value $101.0B
• Tenet Healthcare Corp. (THC): revenue $21.8B, market value $21.6B
• Universal Health Services Inc. (UHS): revenue $18.1B, market value $10.3B
• Surgery Partners, Inc. (SGRY): revenue $3.4B, market value $3.0B

What the company does

Ardent Health, Inc. is a holding company whose affiliates operate acute care hospitals and other healthcare facilities and employ physicians. It provides healthcare services in eight mid-sized urban markets across six states: Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, New Jersey, Idaho, and Kansas. As of 31 December 2025 it ran 30 acute care hospitals, more than 280 sites of care, and over 2,000 providers who are either employed by or affiliated with it. The company says it cares for approximately 17,000 people every day. During 2025 it served approximately 1.2 million unique patients, who had more than 6.1 million visits with its providers.

How the business is organised

Together they hold 4,281 licensed beds. Facilities are grouped into regions with local management teams, and each hospital team generally has a chief executive officer, a chief financial officer and a chief nursing officer or director of nursing. Boards of trustees at each hospital include local community leaders and members of the medical staff.

Since 2021 the company has centralised corporate services such as human resources, information technology, and finance. It outsources certain support functions, including revenue cycle management, food services, and environmental services. It buys supplies through the HealthTrust Purchasing Group. Its headquarters is in Brentwood, Tennessee, and it leases ten of its hospitals from subsidiaries of Ventas.

The joint venture model

Of the 30 hospitals, 18 are operated through joint ventures. In each, Ardent is the majority owner and day-to-day operator, and partners hold minority stakes. Partners include academic medical centers, large not-for-profit hospital systems, community physicians, and a community foundation. The UT Health East Texas arrangement works differently, with earnings shared 70% to Ardent and 30% to The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler.

An Ardent affiliate manages each venture under a Management Services Agreement, which usually has an initial term of five years. The venture pays a management fee based on a percentage of its consolidated net revenues, plus a shared services fee. Venture boards have an equal number of directors from Ardent and from the partner.

What it sells

The company provides general and specialty services, including internal medicine, general surgery, cardiology, oncology, orthopedics, women's services, neurology, urology, and emergency services. Beyond hospitals, it operates 188 primary care and specialty care clinics, four ambulatory surgery centers, 45 urgent care centers, two free-standing emergency departments, and 12 diagnostic imaging centers. On 1 January 2025 it acquired 18 urgent care centers in New Mexico and Oklahoma.

Its provider network has 2,020 providers: 1,480 employed and 540 affiliated physicians and advanced practice providers. By specialty, it counts 400 primary care providers and 1,620 specialists. All facilities use a single system-wide instance of Epic, completed in 2021. The company also uses virtual visits, remote patient monitoring, and the BioButton wearable, which more than 77,000 patients used in 2025.

Who pays for care

Ardent is paid by Medicare, state Medicaid programs, insurance carriers, health maintenance organizations, preferred provider organizations and other managed care programs, and patients directly. The filing says a substantial portion of its revenue comes from patients under Medicare and Medicaid. Hospital revenue depends primarily on inpatient occupancy, the volume of outpatient procedures, and the charges or negotiated rates for services. Medicare pays inpatient stays a predetermined amount per discharge based on diagnosis. The company also takes part in value-based arrangements, including accountable care organizations.

How it competes

Ardent faces competition from established not-for-profit healthcare systems, investor-owned hospital companies, and outpatient service providers. Some competitors are larger, offer more complex services, or finance capital spending on a tax-exempt basis. The company says it holds a leading position, defined as first or second by inpatient market share, in a majority of its markets. Most physicians at its hospitals also have admitting privileges elsewhere, so the company competes for their time. State certificate of need laws can limit its ability to expand services and facilities. Its acute care hospitals are accredited by either The Joint Commission or Det Norske Veritas.

Its people

As of 31 December 2025 Ardent had approximately 25,200 total employees, including more than 19,500 full-time employees and 1,480 employed providers. About 279 employees at Hackensack Meridian Mountainside Medical Center are represented by two labor unions. The company also contracts with third parties for hospital-based physicians, and it competes with other providers to recruit nurses and other clinical staff.

*From Ardent Health's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended 31 December 2025. [The filing](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1756655/000162828026018174/ardt-20251231.htm)*

From the company's 10-K.