HCA Healthcare initiated with an Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley initiated coverage of HCA Healthcare with an Equal Weight rating and $427 price target. The firm is bullish on HCA’s fundamentals and view its “bellwether status” within the hospital group as warranted, but is taking a “measured approach on the stock” following the significant outperformance. The company “checks all the boxes” given its scale, industry-leading margins, strong presence in fast growing markets and solid execution on capital allocation., but after a period of meaningful positive estimate revisions, the pace of revisions is likely to slow from here, the analyst tells investors in a research note.