Ardent Health Inc. Common Stock (ARDT)

FairStock Score: 49/100 — MIXED

Key Financials

AI Analysis

AI-generated, general educational analysis — not personal investment advice.

Ardent Health is a hospital and clinic operator. I look for durable economics, honest accounting, and a margin of safety. Ardent has neither a wide moat nor consistent growth. Revenue rose from $5.4B in fiscal 2023, the year ended 2023-12-31, to $6.0B in fiscal 2024, the year ended 2024-12-31, and $6.3B in fiscal 2025, the year ended 2025-12-31, but net income went from $53.9M to $210.3M and then down to $135.8M over those years. Diluted EPS followed: $0.43, $1.58, and $0.96. The quarterly path is choppier: in fiscal Q3 2025, the quarter ended 2025-09-30, Ardent lost $23.5M; in fiscal Q2 2025, the quarter ended 2025-06-30, it earned $73.0M; in fiscal Q1 2026, the quarter ended 2026-03-31, it earned $39.9M; and in fiscal Q2 2026, the quarter ended 2026-06-30, it earned only $16.9M. That is not the steady compounding I prefer; FairStock tags it a SLOW GROWER — Shrinking because profit fell 10.4% a year over three years. Financial health is mixed. Debt to equity is 1.30, and Altman Z is 1.01, a caution flag, but trailing free cash flow is $304.8M, an 18.5% FCF yield, and Piotroski is 6/9. At the 2026-10-13 close of $11.69, FairStock shows P/E 21.65, P/B 1.23, EV/EBITDA 7.53, ROE 9.96%, and ROCE 3.13%. Graham Number is $10.75, so price is about 8.7% above that asset-and-earnings yardstick. The 49/100 FairStock score and negative margin of safety tell me the market already reflects some recovery. I see a low-beta ($0.70), cash-generative but leveraged operator with a narrow edge. I would need evidence of sustainable margin improvement before calling it a bargain.

In plain English: Ardent Health runs hospitals and clinics in the United States. The business is not growing quickly, and recent profits have fallen sharply, though it still produces plenty of cash. At the recent price of $11.69, the stock looks roughly fair to a little expensive compared with what it earns and owns.

The full AI analysis, bull and bear case and key monitorables are in FairStock Pro.

Data as of 2026-10-13 close · note generated 2026-10-15 · model deepseek-flash

Sources (SEC EDGAR): fiscal Q2 2026 10-Q (period ended 2026-06-30) · fiscal Q1 2026 10-Q (period ended 2026-03-31) · fiscal Q3 2025 10-Q (period ended 2025-09-30) · fiscal Q2 2025 10-Q (period ended 2025-06-30) · FY2025 10-K (period ended 2025-12-31) · FY2024 10-K (period ended 2024-12-31) · FY2023 10-K (period ended 2023-12-31)

Fundamentals from company filings and market-data providers; prices are end-of-day, not real-time. AI-generated analysis is general and educational — not personal investment advice. Scoring methodology · Score test · Disclaimer