Tenet Healthcare Corporation (THC) Stock Analysis

Tenet Healthcare’s primary competitive advantage is its scale and diversification across both hospital operations and ambulatory (outpatient) care. As of mid-2025, Tenet operates 49 acute care and specialty hospitals and holds interests in over 520 ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) and 25 surgical hospitals—making its USPI subsidiary the largest ambulatory platform in the U.S. This breadth enables superior negotiating leverage with payers and suppliers compared to smaller peers such as Community Health Systems (CYH) and Universal Health Services (UHS).

Tenet’s strategic pivot toward ambulatory care is a key differentiator. Ambulatory services deliver higher margins (Q2 2025: 39% EBITDA margin) and are less exposed to reimbursement risk from government payers than traditional hospitals. In contrast, HCA Healthcare (HCA) remains more hospital-centric, and CYH lacks comparable outpatient scale.

Operational efficiency is another edge. Tenet’s adjusted EBITDA margin reached 21.3% in Q2 2025, outpacing most hospital peers. The company’s centralized revenue cycle management (via Conifer) and ongoing cost discipline have supported this margin expansion.

Customer satisfaction scores in the ambulatory segment are high (2024: 96.6), supporting physician and patient retention. Tenet’s culture emphasizes physician partnerships and local market autonomy, which aids recruitment and service line growth.

Risks include high managed care concentration (top 10 payers: 69% of managed care revenue) and exposure to Medicaid policy changes, but Tenet’s diversified footprint and capital allocation flexibility mitigate these threats relative to less diversified rivals.