Strong performance across its hospital and ambulatory businesses during the third quarter led Tenet Healthcare to raise its 2026 earnings guidance by 4%, with executives asserting that the core strength of operations will yield continued earnings growth in 2027 despite policy headwinds.

The for-profit this week reported $5.63 billion in net operating revenues for the quarter, not counting $646 million in contract termination revenue tied to its divorce with CommonSpirit Health that was recognized during the quarter. The tally was 6.5% above the same period last year and above the $5.47 billion consensus estimate, per Zacks Investment Research.

The bigger standouts were its $6.64 adjusted earnings per share, well above the prior year’s $3.70 earnings per share and more than 40% above the consensus estimate of $4.60 per share. Further, executives highlighted third-quarter adjusted EBITDA of $1.36 billion (about 16% above the street, per Stephens), about 10% year-over-year growth when excluding $147 million in one-time items stemming from the shifting timing of its CommonSpirit contract winddown.

Based on those results, the health system boosted 2026 adjusted EBITDA guidance by $195 million, building on the prior increase issued during the summer. CEO Saum Sutaria, M.D., told analysts during a Thursday morning call that the change “is supported by our continued expectations for strong fundamental performance as well as the one-time items in the back half of the year. Notably, over 40% of our total guidance increase for this year is from fundamental outperformance.”

For the quarter, executives generally described rising hospital activity and continued expense reductions that outpaced industry-wide weak surgical volumes and payer mix challenges.

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