Universal Health (UHS) AI Stock Analysis

• Market Cap: $12.59B
• Dividend Yield: 0.35%
• Average Volume (3M): 702.56K
• Price to Earnings (P/E): 8.9
• Beta (1Y): 0.65
• Revenue Growth: 10.21%
• EPS Growth: 39.58%
• Country: US
• Employees: 99,300
• Sector: Healthcare
• Sector Strength: 45
• Industry: Medical - Care Facilities
• EPS (TTM): 5.88
• Shares Outstanding: 53,837,856
• 10 Day Avg. Volume: 817,834
• 30 Day Avg. Volume: 702,556
• PEG Ratio: 0.26
• Price to Book (P/B): 1.89
• Price to Sales (P/S): 0.80
• P/FCF Ratio: 16.32
• Enterprise Value/Market Cap: 1.47
• Enterprise Value/Revenue: 1.06
• Enterprise Value/Gross Profit: 1.52
• Enterprise Value/Ebitda: 6.73
• 1Y Price Target: $253.88
• Price Target Upside: 23.18% Upside
• Rating Consensus: Moderate Buy
• Number of Analyst Covering: 8
• EPS Forecast (FY): 23.3
• Revenue Forecast (FY): $18.38B

• Rating: 74 Outperform
• Price Target: $258.00 ▲(25.18% Upside)
• Action: Reiterated Date: 02/27/26
• Date: Action: Reiterated 02/27/26

The score is driven by solid financial performance (improving profitability and better leverage), supported by strong technical uptrend signals and an attractive P/E. Offsetting factors include uneven cash-flow conversion and earnings-call headwinds (exchange exposure and California staffing regulation impacts) that could pressure near-term results.

Positive Factors

Revenue & profitability improvement

UHS has delivered multi-year top-line growth and clear margin expansion through 2022–2025, showing sustainable pricing power and operational leverage across Acute and Behavioral segments. Improved margins and rising ROE reflect durable earnings quality and competitive positioning in hospital and behavioral services.

Diverse acute + behavioral footprint and growth pipeline

A balanced platform of acute hospitals and behavioral assets plus outpatient rollouts expands addressable markets and lowers single-market concentration risk. New inpatient capacity and outpatient behavioral clinics create sustainable volume runway and higher-margin outpatient exposure over coming quarters and years.

Improving leverage and disciplined capital allocation

Leverage trending lower alongside rising equity indicates improving balance-sheet resilience. Management has returned capital via large buybacks while preserving revolver capacity, signaling confidence and disciplined allocation that supports long-term shareholder value and flexibility to fund growth or absorb shocks.

Negative Factors

Uneven cash‑flow conversion

Volatile conversion of earnings into free cash reduces financial flexibility and raises funding risk for buybacks, capex, and debt service. Timing-driven receivables and supplemental payment shifts have produced uneven OCF coverage, making short-to-medium term liquidity outcomes more dependent on working-capital management.

California behavioral staffing regulation costs

Mandated staffing mix and higher nursing requirements in a major market create a persistent cost base increase and recruitment/training burdens. That structural expense raises operating leverage headwinds in Behavioral segment, constraining margin sustainability and requiring pricing or productivity offsets to preserve returns.

Dependence on Medicaid supplementals & policy uncertainty

Material assumed supplemental payments underpin near-term guidance, so approval timing or policy reversals would materially affect revenue and cash. Reliance on discretionary/state program flows increases earnings volatility and elevates execution risk tied to external policy outcomes rather than core operational performance.

Universal Health Business Overview & Revenue Model

Company Description

Universal Health Services, Inc., through its subsidiaries, owns and operates acute care hospitals, and outpatient and behavioral health care facilities. The company operates through Acute Care Hospital Services and Behavioral Health Care Services segments. Its hospitals offer general and specialty surgery, internal medicine, obstetrics, emergency room care, radiology, oncology, diagnostic and coronary care, pediatric services, pharmacy services, and/or behavioral health services. As of February 24, 2022, it owned and/or operated 363 inpatient facilities, and 40 outpatient and other facilities located in 39 states; Washington, D.C.; the United Kingdom; and Puerto Rico. The company also provides commercial health insurance services; and various management services, which include central purchasing, information, finance and control systems, facilities planning, physician recruitment, administrative personnel management, marketing, and public relations services. Universal Health Services, Inc. founded in 1978 and is headquartered in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.

How the Company Makes Money

UHS generates revenue primarily through the provision of healthcare services, which includes patient admissions to its hospitals and facilities. The company earns money from private payers, government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, and self-pay patients. Key revenue streams include inpatient and outpatient services, emergency room visits, and behavioral health services. Additionally, UHS benefits from partnerships with insurance companies and health systems that facilitate patient referrals and care coordination. The company also invests in new facility developments and expansions, which contribute to its long-term revenue growth. Furthermore, UHS's focus on operational efficiency and cost management helps enhance its profitability.

Universal Health Financial Statement Overview

Summary

Fundamentals are solid: steady multi-year revenue growth and meaningful profitability improvement into 2024–2025, alongside improving leverage (debt-to-equity trending down) and stronger ROE. The main constraints are uneven cash-flow conversion/coverage (FCF and coverage metrics have been volatile) and a still-material absolute debt load.

Income Statement

Revenue has grown steadily from 2020 to 2025 (annual growth ranging from ~1.6% to 10.8%, with 2025 at ~2.2%), showing a durable top-line trajectory. Profitability strengthened meaningfully from 2022–2025, with net margin improving from ~5.0% (2022–2023) to ~8.6% in 2025 and EBITDA margin rising to ~15.7% in 2025. A key weakness is margin volatility versus 2020–2021 (when net margin was ~7.8%–8.2%), suggesting profitability can fluctuate with operating conditions; additionally, 2025 gross profit/margin data appears unavailable/zeroed, limiting full margin-quality read-through for the latest year.

Balance Sheet

Leverage looks manageable and improving: debt-to-equity declined from ~0.89 (2022) to ~0.70 (2025), while equity expanded from ~$5.9B (2022) to ~$7.3B (2025). Returns also improved, with return on equity rising from ~11% (2022–2023) to ~20% in 2025, reflecting better earnings power on the capital base. The main risk is that absolute debt remains sizable (~$5.2B in 2025), which can constrain flexibility if operating performance softens or capital needs rise.

Cash Flow

Cash generation is positive, with operating cash flow consistently above ~$0.88B and reaching ~$1.86B in 2025; free cash flow also remained solid at ~$0.85B in 2025. However, cash-flow quality is uneven: free cash flow declined ~10.6% in 2025 after a strong 2024, and free cash flow covered only ~46% of net income in 2025 (vs ~54% in 2024), pointing to less efficient conversion of earnings into surplus cash. Operating cash flow coverage of key obligations also fluctuated meaningfully (from ~0.45 in 2021 to ~0.95 in 2020 and ~0.58 in 2025), indicating periods of tighter cash coverage.

Breakdown	Dec 2025	Dec 2024	Dec 2023	Dec 2022	Dec 2021
Income Statement
Total Revenue	17.36B	15.83B	14.28B	13.40B	12.64B
Gross Profit	1.99B	14.24B	12.75B	11.93B	11.21B
EBITDA	2.75B	2.27B	1.71B	1.58B	1.91B
Net Income	1.49B	1.14B	717.79M	675.61M	991.59M
Balance Sheet
Total Assets	15.53B	14.47B	13.97B	13.49B	13.09B
Cash, Cash Equivalents and Short-Term Investments	137.80M	125.98M	119.44M	102.82M	115.30M
Total Debt	5.17B	4.96B	5.37B	5.27B	4.56B
Total Liabilities	8.19B	7.71B	7.77B	7.52B	6.90B
Stockholders Equity	7.34B	6.67B	6.15B	5.92B	6.09B
Cash Flow
Free Cash Flow	849.25M	1.12B	524.74M	262.02M	28.04M
Operating Cash Flow	1.86B	2.07B	1.27B	996.02M	883.70M
Investing Cash Flow	-1.07B	-911.11M	-763.27M	-647.30M	-914.47M
Financing Cash Flow	-749.73M	-1.14B	-493.94M	-318.40M	-1.07B

Universal Health Technical Analysis

• Technical Analysis Sentiment: Negative
• Last Price: 206.10
• 50DMA: Negative
• 100DMA: Negative
• 200DMA: Positive
• MACD: Positive
• RSI: Neutral
• STOCH: Positive

Evaluating momentum and price trends is crucial in stock analysis to make informed investment decisions. For UHS, the sentiment is Negative. The current price of 206.1 is below the 20-day moving average (MA) of 220.61, below the 50-day MA of 216.36, and above the 200-day MA of 200.07, indicating a neutral trend. The MACD of 1.74 indicates Positive momentum. The RSI at 38.19 is Neutral, neither overbought nor oversold. The STOCH value of 10.82 is Positive, not indicating any strong overbought or oversold conditions. Overall, these indicators collectively point to a Negative sentiment for UHS.

Universal Health Peers Comparison

Name	Overall Rating	Market Cap	P/E Ratio	ROE	Dividend Yield	Revenue Growth	EPS Growth
HCA	75 Outperform	$118.45B	18.70	―	0.61%	6.82%	15.82%
UHS	74 Outperform	$12.59B	8.92	21.36%	0.35%	10.21%	39.58%
EHC	73 Outperform	$10.73B	19.47	25.11%	0.65%	11.13%	27.53%
THC	69 Neutral	$20.82B	15.45	33.54%	―	-0.56%	-53.50%
DVA	63 Neutral	$10.44B	16.36	―	―	5.14%	4.37%
FMS	60 Neutral	$13.52B	12.37	7.27%	3.29%	4.09%	13.17%
Sector *	51 Neutral	$7.86B	-0.30	-43.30%	2.27%	22.53%	-2.21%

Universal Health Corporate Events

Universal Health Granted New Trial in Nevada Verdict

Universal Health Services reported strong 2025 results, with fourth-quarter net income attributable to UHS rising to $445.9 million, or $7.06 per diluted share, on 9.1% higher net revenues of $4.486 billion versus a year earlier. For the full year 2025, net income climbed to $1.489 billion, or $23.10 per diluted share, on 9.7% revenue growth to $17.365 billion, supported by higher net revenue per adjusted admission and patient day in both its acute care and behavioral health segments and improved EBITDA.

Operationally, same-facility acute care revenues rose 6.9% in the fourth quarter and 8.5% for 2025, while behavioral health revenues increased 7.2% and 7.7% over the same periods, though operating cash flow declined by $203 million year over year to $1.864 billion, mainly due to higher receivables and self-insurance payments. Separately, UHS of Delaware, Inc., an administrative subsidiary, saw a September 26, 2025 jury verdict in Nevada awarding $4.7 million in compensatory and $500 million in punitive damages over physician departures, but on February 25, 2026 the trial judge verbally granted a new trial for juror misconduct, potentially vacating the verdict; the company has reserved $18 million and warns an adverse outcome could materially affect its financial condition.

The most recent analyst rating on (UHS) stock is a Buy with a $258.00 price target. To see the full list of analyst forecasts on Universal Health stock, see the UHS Stock Forecast page.

Universal Health Extends CEO Marc Miller’s Employment Term

On December 30, 2025, Universal Health Services’ board compensation committee approved an amended and restated employment agreement for CEO and president Marc D. Miller, extending his term as chief executive through January 1, 2029, with automatic one-year renewals unless either party opts out. The revised agreement increases Miller’s 2026 base salary to $1,575,000, a 5% raise over 2025, maintains an annual bonus target at 150% of salary, and preserves eligibility for long-term incentive plan awards and broad executive benefits, while detailing extensive severance and vesting protections in cases of disability, death, termination without cause or for company breach, reinforcing leadership continuity and aligning his incentives with long-term shareholder and company performance.

The most recent analyst rating on (UHS) stock is a Hold with a $231.00 price target. To see the full list of analyst forecasts on Universal Health stock, see the UHS Stock Forecast page.