Universal Health Services reports results on Tuesday 27 October, after the market closes. Revenue over the twelve months to Q2 2026 was $18.1 billion, which rose 10.0% on the year before.
Source: reported quarterly EPS and aggregated third-party estimates. Historical surprises are context, not a forecast.
View chart data
| Period | Reported EPS | Analysts' estimate |
|---|---|---|
| Sep '25 | $5.69 | $4.95 |
| Dec '25 | $5.88 | $5.91 |
| Mar '26 | $5.62 | $5.46 |
| Jun '26 | $5.98 | $6.01 |
What analysts expect
Analysts have been cutting their forecasts going into the report. For the quarter, the analysts’ average EPS estimate is $5.15, in a range from $4.35 to $5.51. The average revenue estimate for the quarter is $4.7 billion. At the same time, the analysts’ average estimate for full-year EPS is $22.48, which would be up 3.4% on last year (based on 17 analysts). That estimate has fallen 3.9% over the past 90 days. Of the analysts’ recommendations, 6 are positive, 13 neutral and 1 negative.
Company guidance
In its latest earnings release, management set the year ended December 31, 2026 Adjusted EPS – diluted guidance at $22.28 to $23.65. In its latest earnings release, management set the year ended December 31, 2026 Net revenues guidance at $18.5 billion to $18.8 billion.
Earnings surprise model
The model estimates EPS could land above the analysts’ average estimate by 0.6%. Its estimated chance of an EPS beat is 50.0%, based on the last 4 quarters. The model shrinks the median recent surprise toward zero and uses a neutral prior for beat frequency; this small sample is a reference estimate, not company guidance.
Track record against estimates
The company reported EPS above the analysts’ average estimate in 2 of the last 4 quarters. Last quarter, EPS of $5.98 compared with an estimate of $6.01, below it by 0.4%.
The trends going in
Reported profit is running well ahead of the cash. That growth rate was down 0.4 percentage points on the rate a quarter earlier. The trailing operating margin was 11.4%, up 0.4 percentage points from a year earlier. Meanwhile, the trailing net margin was 8.4%. Net income over the twelve months was $1.5 billion, which rose 21.0% on the year before.
Cash flow
Operating cash flow over the twelve months was $1.8 billion, down 5.3% on the year before. Capital spending was $954.9 million, or 5.3% of revenue. Free cash flow, operating cash flow less capital spending, was $845.4 million, down 6.2% on the year before. Free cash flow was 4.7% of revenue (the free-cash-flow margin), down 0.8 percentage points from a year earlier. The average diluted share count fell 6.7% over the year.
In context
Measured against its own history: today’s free-cash-flow margin of 4.7% is higher than 21% of the company’s own past quarterly readings, which have ranged from −1.2% to 16.3%. Today’s operating margin of 11.4% is higher than 40% of past readings (7.5% to 14.5%). Today’s twelve-month revenue growth rate of 10.0% is higher than 83% of past readings (1.2% to 21.4%).
Questions this report will answer
Whether the slowdown in revenue growth continues. Whether results land above or below the analysts’ expectations set out above. Alongside that, whether margins hold at the trailing levels above. The next filing will show whether the trends above continue, slow or reverse.
The valuation angle
Our model translates these figures into value. In our model, growth 5 percentage points lower would lower the value by 30.5%, and 5 percentage points higher would raise it by 39.6%. A free-cash-flow margin 1 percentage point lower would lower it by 23.1%.
