ARDT

Ardent is a steadily growing hospital operator priced for stagnation. Revenue has compounded every year — $5.13B (2022) → $5.41B → $5.97B → $6.32B (2025), +6.0% in FY2025 — and operating cash flow jumped +49.4% to $471M against just $156M of D&A, so this is genuinely cash-generative, not accrual-flattered. At $9.93 the stock trades at 10.3x EPS and 0.2x sales; netting the $710M cash pile against ~$1.1B of debt leaves an enterprise value near $1.8B against the MD&A's $545M of FY2025 Adjusted EBITDA — roughly 3.3x — which is a distressed multiple for a business that isn't distressed.

The scary headline is the -35.4% drop in net income to $136M and -39.2% EPS to $0.96. The MD&A reconciliation shows why that overstates the decline: FY2025 GAAP net income absorbed a $54.5M New Mexico professional-liability accrual, a $43.3M change in accounting estimate, and a step-up in equity-based comp to $39.3M from $18.0M — largely non-recurring or non-cash. Strip those and Adjusted EBITDA actually grew to $545.0M from $498.5M (+9.3%), with the multi-year trend (2023 $314.7M → 2024 $498.5M → 2025 $545.0M) pointing up, not down. The balance sheet improved alongside: equity +13.8% to $1.29B, retained earnings +37.1% to $502M, cash +27.4%, and long-term debt roughly flat. Current assets cover current liabilities ~1.96x.