CluenexUniversal Health Services UHS
Universal Health Services scores average on business quality (5.3 of 10). Here is why, in plain words, and what our sealed record shows.
Why it matters
- What Universal Health Services does
Universal Health Services operates acute care hospitals and behavioral health facilities, generating revenue primarily from patient care services funded by private insurers, Medicare, and Medicaid. The company is leaning into facility expansions and psychiatric bed additions to capture rising inpatient demand across its core geographic markets.
- What it does best
Universal Health Services dominates behavioral health facility management, running an extensive national network of psychiatric hospitals that creates massive scale advantages. With an operating margin of 11.4%, its facility utilization outpaces peers like HCA's 15.5% in acute care density.
- The main risk
Regulatory scrutiny and behavioral health litigation pose constant operational threats, risking severe reputational harm and potential financial penalties that could compress patient volumes.
Quality, check by check
Scored against its own industry, from company filings.
Operating margin sits at 11.3% with an FCF margin near 4.7%, showing stable cash generation that scales modestly with top-line growth.
Scale across specialized psychiatric facilities creates a wide regional moat, though a 4.8 moat score reflects vulnerability to local staffing shortages and rising labor costs.
Revenue grew 9.7% to $18.1B, accelerating from prior years as patient volumes rebound across both acute care and behavioral segments.
Debt-to-equity sits at 0.65 with interest coverage at 13.0x, leaving debt costs manageable alongside $845M in free cash flow, getting stronger overall.
Insiders
Executives and directors, from SEC Form 4 filings we read ourselves. Open market trades only; grants, option exercises and pre-planned sales left out.
No open market buys or unplanned sales by executives or directors.
Our sealed record on UHS
Verdicts appear here 30 days after we publish them; members see today's. Each one is in the nightly ledger, fingerprinted the night it was made.
The first sealed verdicts appear here on Oct 11, 2026.
Questions
Universal Health Services scores average on the Cluenex quality check (5.3 of 10), measured against its own industry. Profitability is weak, moat fair, growth steady and financial health fair.
In the last 90 days of SEC Form 4 filings: No open market buys or unplanned sales by executives or directors.
Oct 26, 2026, after the close.
See UHS today
- Today's verdict on UHS, and why
- Fair value with cautious, base and optimistic cases
- The exact price that would change the verdict
- Which stocks each signal names, the night it fires
Cite this page: Cluenex, “Universal Health Services (UHS)”, https://cluenex.com/stocks/uhs/, data as of Oct 10, 2026.