Community Health Systems, Inc.
CYH · NYSE
Company research
Community Health Systems, Inc. (NYSE: CYH) is one of the largest publicly traded healthcare companies in the United States, headquartered in Franklin, Tennessee, that owns, leases, and operates general acute care hospitals primarily in non-urban and secondary markets across 14 states. The company provides a comprehensive range of medical services including emergency care, general and specialized surgery, critical care, internal medicine, obstetrics, diagnostics, psychiatric, and rehabilitation services, alongside outpatient offerings through physician practices, urgent care centers, freestanding emergency departments, ambulatory surgery centers, and imaging centers, with more than 1,000 total sites of care. As of its most recent reporting, CYH subsidiaries own or lease 69 affiliated hospitals with more than 10,000 licensed beds, under the leadership of CEO Kevin J. Hammons. In recent years, the company has pursued a strategic shift toward portfolio optimization — selectively divesting non-core assets, expanding outpatient access, and improving operational efficiency to reduce its significant debt load and strengthen cash flow, generating over $12 billion in net operating revenue in FY2023.
Research reports
Analyzes CYH’s capital structure, noting long‑term debt of roughly 10.13 billion against cash of 712 million and a market cap near 427 million, resulting in a net debt-to-capital ratio of 106.1% that is far above the industry average. The piece highlights multi‑year deleveraging via asset sales and retirement of expensive debt, with net debt‑to‑EBITDA improving to about 6.79 and adjusted EBITDA above 1.5 billion in both 2024 and 2025, but stresses that leverage still materially exceeds peers HCA and Tenet, leaving a high‑risk profile despite a low forward price-to-sales multiple and Value Score of A.
Zacks Investment Research (via Yahoo Finance) · March 9, 2026Is Community Health Systems Attractive Despite Its Heavy Debt Load?Frames CYH as a potentially attractive but risky value idea, emphasizing a return to net income in 2025, lower operating expenses, and rising operating margin alongside ongoing hospital divestitures and improving operating cash flow to about 543 million. Argues that the stock trades at a steep discount on forward price-to-sales versus peers and carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and Value Score of A, yet cautions that net debt-to-EBITDA remains above 7 and return on capital is well below industry levels, so execution on deleveraging is critical.
Finsee.ai · February 18, 2026Community Health Systems (CYH) Q4 2025 earnings review — “Shrinking Footprint, Stalling Core: Profitability Slides as Volumes Contract”Provides a detailed post‑earnings breakdown showing that the Q4 2025 net income “beat” was driven by a 164 million gain on business sales, while adjusted EBITDA fell 7.7% year over year to 395 million and same‑store admissions turned negative at −0.3%, indicating underlying operating weakness. The report stresses that 2026 guidance calls for lower revenue and EBITDA than 2025 as divestitures shrink the footprint, outlines a still‑very‑high long‑term debt load around 10.4 billion, and concludes with an explicitly bearish verdict that the turnaround relies heavily on financial engineering rather than sustainable volume and earnings growth.
Zacks Investment Research (via Finviz) · August 29, 2025Is it Time to Hold on to Community Health Systems Stock?Positions CYH as a stock “worth holding,” citing improving occupancy (52.5% in 2024 and 53.4% in the first half of 2025 with an internal forecast to 54.8% by year‑end), rising revenue per adjusted admission, and ongoing divestiture of non‑core hospitals, including a 260 million sale in Florida, as key drivers supporting a rebound. Projects 2025 net operating cash flow of 600–700 million versus 480 million in the prior year and highlights an extremely low forward price-to-sales multiple of about 0.03 versus an industry average near 0.83 and a Value Score of A, but flags balance‑sheet risk from roughly 10.8 billion of long‑term debt, net debt‑to‑EBITDA of 8.3, and below‑peer ROIC, leading to a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) rather than a more aggressive rating.