Ardent Health, Inc. is a publicly traded U.S. healthcare system listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ARDT. The company is headquartered at 340 Seven Springs Way in Brentwood, Tennessee, and has operated since its founding in 2001. Ardent was formerly known as Ardent Health Partners, Inc. ...Ardent Health, Inc. is a publicly traded U.S. healthcare system listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ARDT. The company is headquartered at 340 Seven Springs Way in Brentwood, Tennessee, and has operated since its founding in 2001. Ardent was formerly known as Ardent Health Partners, Inc. and adopted the name Ardent Health, Inc. in June 2025. Its business developed from a healthcare-services platform with historical roots in behavioral healthcare and expanded into a broader network of acute-care hospitals, specialty hospitals, outpatient facilities, and physician services.
Ardent’s core business is the ownership and operation of healthcare facilities. Its network includes approximately 30 hospitals and a broad collection of ambulatory and community-based sites. Services include internal medicine, general surgery, cardiology, oncology, orthopedics, women’s services, neurology, urology, emergency care, rehabilitation, and surgical care. Outside the inpatient setting, Ardent operates primary-care and specialty-care clinics, ambulatory surgery centers, urgent-care locations, free-standing emergency departments, diagnostic imaging centers, and telehealth programs. This combination allows the company to provide care across multiple stages of a patient’s healthcare journey, from routine consultations and diagnostics to complex inpatient treatment and post-acute rehabilitation.
The company’s operating model is centered on growing mid-sized urban and suburban markets, where it seeks to build integrated local healthcare networks. Ardent’s hospitals and outpatient assets are supported by more than 2,000 providers and a workforce reported at more than 25,000 team members, although financial databases may report approximately 19,500 full-time employees depending on methodology and reporting period. These personnel and provider relationships are important operating resources because hospital performance depends on clinical staffing, physician alignment, patient access, quality outcomes, and efficient coordination between inpatient and outpatient settings.
From a financial perspective, the supplied trailing-twelve-month data indicates that Ardent generated a gross margin of approximately 30%, an EBITDA margin of about 6.3%, and a net profit margin near 1.2%. Its reported enterprise value was approximately $3.2 billion, with a current ratio above 2.0 and positive free cash flow. The company is capital intensive because hospitals require substantial spending on buildings, medical equipment, information systems, maintenance, and technology. Capital expenditures were approximately 3.7% of revenue in the supplied data, while debt remains meaningful relative to equity and market capitalization. Ardent paid no dividend in the cited period, indicating that cash is primarily retained for operations, capital investment, debt management, and strategic initiatives.
Dave Caspers serves as President and Chief Executive Officer. His stated priorities include operational excellence, performance improvement, care transformation, innovation, and delivering high-quality healthcare in the communities Ardent serves. Key strategic opportunities include expanding access, improving care coordination, strengthening outpatient and telehealth offerings, increasing hospital utilization, managing labor and supply costs, and improving margins while maintaining clinical quality. As with other hospital operators, Ardent faces risks related to reimbursement rates, labor availability, wage inflation, regulatory requirements, payer mix, patient volumes, interest costs, and the substantial capital needs of healthcare infrastructure.
YoYYoY means Year-over-Year. It compares the latest annual value with the previous annual value to show long-term trend strength.
QoQQoQ means Quarter-over-Quarter. It compares the latest quarter with the immediately previous quarter to show short-term momentum changes.
RevenueThe total money that came through the front door from selling things, before paying a single bill. Think of it as the grand total of every credit card swipe from customers. (YoY compares this year to last year's performance, while QoQ compares the current three months to the previous three).
$6.3B
+6.0%
+1.3%
Net IncomeThe absolute bottom line. If the company paid every single supplier, employee, banker, and tax collector, this is the actual money left in their pocket at the end of the day.
$135.8M
-35.4%
-57.6%
Gross MarginThe basic markup. If they sell a $100 pair of sneakers, this percentage tells you how much of that price tag is profit right after paying for the rubber and shoelaces, but before paying for things like store rent or TV commercials.
+97.5%
+18.0%
-61.0%
Operating MarginThe 'day job' efficiency score. Out of every dollar a customer spends, this shows how many cents the company keeps after making the product AND paying for all the everyday corporate overhead (like salaries, marketing, and keeping the lights on).
+5.1%
-24.3%
-47.3%
Net MarginThe final take-home percentage. When you strip away every conceivable cost, tax, and interest payment, this is the exact number of cents the company truly gets to keep from every dollar in sales.
+2.1%
-39.1%
-58.1%
Free Cash FlowThe holy grail of corporate cash. It's the spendable, physical money left over after the business pays for its daily operations AND buys the big, expensive upgrades (like new factories or servers) it needs to survive. This is the 'free' money they can use to pay dividends or buy back stock.
$258.6M
+102.8%
+279.0%
FCF MarginThe ultimate cash conversion rate. It shows how good the company is at turning regular sales directly into cold, hard, spendable cash. A high percentage means the business is an absolute cash-printing machine.
+4.1%
+91.3%
+276.7%
Debt / EquityThe financial risk gauge. It compares how much of the company's empire was built using borrowed money (loans) versus the owners' own money (shareholders). A high number means they are heavily leveraged and playing a riskier game; a low number means they are playing it safe.
134.3%
-33.4%
+27.4%
Current RatioThe 12-month survival check. It simply compares the cash they have right now (plus things they can quickly turn into cash) against the immediate bills they absolutely must pay this year. A score above 1 means they have enough in the wallet to cover the upcoming bills without panicking.
1.97x
+1.5%
-0.9%
Total AssetsThe absolute size of the company's empire. It bundles together absolutely everything of value they own—from the cash in the register and the inventory in the warehouse, to the software patents in the vault and the factories on the ground.
Operator: Hello, and thank you for standing by. My name is Lacy, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Ardent Health Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Thank you. I would now like to turn the call over to Dave Styblo, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations. You may go ahead.
David Styblo: Thank you, operator, and welcome to Ardent Health's Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. Joining me today is Ardent's President and Chief Executive Officer, Dave Caspers; and Chief Financial Officer, Alfred Lumsdaine. Dave and Alfred will provide prepared remarks, and then we will open the line to questions. Before I turn the call over to Dave, I want to remind everyone that today's discussion contains forward-looking statements about future business and financial expectations. Actual results may differ significantly from those projected in today's forward-looking statements due to various risks and uncertainties, including the risks described in our periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update our forward-looking statements. Further, this call will include the discussion of certain non-GAAP financial measures, including adjusted EBITDA. Reconciliation of these measures to the closest GAAP financial measure is included in our quarterly earnings press release and supplemental earnings presentation, which were both issued yesterday evening after the market closed and are available at ardentthealth.com. With that, I'll turn the call over to Dave.
David Caspers: Thank you, and good morning. I want to begin by thanking our 25,000 team members for the way they continue to adapt, improve how we operate and deliver high-quality care to our patients and communities we serve. To frame today's discussion, I'll focus my comments on 3 areas: first, where we stand, including the strength of our current platform; second, where we're going, including my priorities and the opportunities ahead; and third, what you can expect from me. Let's start with where we stand. The Ardent platform is built on a strong foundation with clear opportunities to improve our performance. With 30 hospitals and over 280 sites of care, attractive markets growing 2 to 3x faster than the U.S. average and strong joint venture partners, we are well positioned to capture market share. Over the past 2 years, we have broadened our access points and strengthened partnerships by acquiring and/or building over 25 urgent care and ASC facilities. These investments expand our ability to care for patients across the most appropriate care setting while also targeting volume growth. In addition, strategic partnerships, specifically with Ensemble and Epic, are strengthening our revenue cycle and clinical capabilities. In short, we are well positioned, but there is more work ahead. Since transitioning into this role, I've …
