Tenet Healthcare Plunges After Wide Earnings, Forecast Miss

Tenet Healthcare Corp. fell 10% in late trading Monday after substantially missing earnings expectations. The hospital operator reported a fourth-quarter loss of $79 million, or 79 cents a share, on revenue of $4.86 billion. After adjustments for restructuring- and acquisition-related costs, as well as other effects, Tenet claimed profit of 6 cents a share. Analysts polled by FactSet expected on average for Tenet to report adjusted earnings of 22 cents a share on sales of $4.96 billion. The company also whiffed on its forecast, projecting first-quarter losses of 45 cents to 60 cents a share on sales of $4.75 billion to $4.95 billion, and full-year profit of $1.05 to $1.30 a share on sales of $19.7 billion to $20.1 billion. Analysts projected first-quarter adjusted profit of 45 cents a share and sales of $4.95 billion for Tenet, and full-year adjusted earnings of $1.97 a share on revenue of $20 billion. Shares decline to less than $20.50 in after-hours action Monday, after closing with a 3.1% gain at $22.67.