(Reuters) – Hospital operator HCA Healthcare HCA.N said on Thursday it will return about $6 billion of government funding it received as coronavirus relief and expects third-quarter revenue to be above analysts’ estimates.
Shares of the company jumped 8% to $142.50 in extended trade, after HCA said returning taxpayers’ dollars was “the socially responsible thing to do” as the initial immediacy of the emergency had passed.
HCA said it expects to repay the relief fund from available cash and future cash flows from operations. The hospital operator had $4.64 billion in cash and cash equivalents as of the second quarter.
The company expects third-quarter revenue to grow to $13.30 billion from $12.69 billion a year earlier. Analysts expect revenue of $12.67 billion in the quarter, according to IBES estimates from Refinitiv.
The company expects to report its third-quarter results on or after Oct. 26.
Reporting by Trisha Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli
