As the Q4 earnings season wraps, let’s dig into this quarter’s best and worst performers in the senior health, home health & hospice industry, including Brookdale (NYSE: BKD) and its peers.

The senior health, home care, and hospice care industries provide essential services to aging populations and patients with chronic or terminal conditions. These companies benefit from stable, recurring revenue driven by relationships with patients and families that can extend many months or even years. However, the labor-intensive nature of the business makes it vulnerable to rising labor costs and staffing shortages, while profitability is constrained by reimbursement rates from Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurers. Looking ahead, the industry is positioned for tailwinds from an aging population, increasing chronic disease prevalence, and a growing preference for personalized in-home care. Advancements in remote monitoring and telehealth are expected to enhance efficiency and care delivery. However, headwinds such as labor shortages, wage inflation, and regulatory uncertainty around reimbursement could pose challenges. Investments in digitization and technology-driven care will be critical for long-term success.

The 7 senior health, home health & hospice stocks we track reported a strong Q4. As a group, revenues beat analysts’ consensus estimates by 2%.

Thankfully, share prices of the companies have been resilient as they are up 6.8% on average since the latest earnings results.

Slowest Q4: Brookdale (NYSE: BKD)

With a network of over 650 communities serving approximately 59,000 residents across 41 states, Brookdale Senior Living (NYSE: BKD) operates senior living communities across the United States, offering independent living, assisted living, memory care, and continuing care retirement communities.

Brookdale reported revenues of $780.9 million, up 3.5% year on year. This print was in line with analysts’ expectations, but overall, it was a slower quarter for the company with a significant miss of analysts’ EPS estimates.

"In 2024, Brookdale made significant progress to achieving its long-term potential. We are proud of the meaningful improvements across many financial, operational, and resident satisfaction metrics. We are grateful for being recognized externally for our workplace culture, leading clinical programming, and being a 'best of' in hundreds of our local markets. Importantly, we delivered positive Adjusted Free Cash Flow in the back half of the year and have positioned the business to generate meaningful Adjusted Free Cash Flow in 2025 through continued focus on profitable occupancy growth and appropriate expense management, completed and pending acquisitions of leased portfolios, and beneficial negotiation of recent lease amendments," said Lucinda ("Cindy") Baier, Brookdale's President and CEO.

Brookdale delivered the weakest performance against analyst estimates of the whole group. The stock is up 13.2% since reporting and currently trades at $6.01.

Read our full report on Brookdale here, it’s free.

Best Q4: Option Care Health (NASDAQ: OPCH)

With a nationwide network of 177 locations serving 43 states and a team of over 4,500 clinicians, Option Care Health (NASDAQ: OPCH) is the largest independent provider of home and alternate site infusion services, delivering medications and clinical support to patients across the United States.

Option Care Health reported revenues of $1.35 billion, up 19.7% year on year, outperforming analysts’ expectations by 4.9%. The business had an exceptional quarter with an impressive beat of analysts’ full-year EPS guidance estimates and a solid beat of analysts’ EPS estimates.

Option Care Health achieved the biggest analyst estimates beat and highest full-year guidance raise among its peers. The market seems happy with the results as the stock is up 9.6% since reporting. It currently trades at $35.79.

Is now the time to buy Option Care Health? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it’s free.

BrightSpring Health Services (NASDAQ: BTSG)

Founded in 1974, BrightSpring Health Services (NASDAQ: BTSG) offers home health care, hospice, neuro-rehabilitation, and pharmacy services.

BrightSpring Health Services reported revenues of $3.05 billion, up 28.6% year on year, exceeding analysts’ expectations by 1.1%. Still, it was a mixed quarter as it posted full-year EBITDA guidance missing analysts’ expectations.

As expected, the stock is down 1.2% since the results and currently trades at $18.17.

Read our full analysis of BrightSpring Health Services’s results here.

AdaptHealth (NASDAQ: AHCO)

With a network of approximately 680 locations serving patients across all 50 states, AdaptHealth (NASDAQ: AHCO) provides home medical equipment, supplies, and related services to patients with chronic conditions like sleep apnea, diabetes, and respiratory disorders.

AdaptHealth reported revenues of $856.6 million, flat year on year. This result topped analysts’ expectations by 3.3%. Overall, it was a strong quarter as it also recorded a solid beat of analysts’ EPS estimates and full-year EBITDA guidance slightly topping analysts’ expectations.

AdaptHealth had the slowest revenue growth and weakest full-year guidance update among its peers. The stock is up 26.5% since reporting and currently trades at $10.82.

Read our full, actionable report on AdaptHealth here, it’s free.

Chemed (NYSE: CHE)

With a unique business model combining end-of-life care and household services, Chemed (NYSE: CHE) operates two distinct businesses: VITAS, which provides hospice care for terminally ill patients, and Roto-Rooter, which offers plumbing and water restoration services.

Chemed reported revenues of $640 million, up 9.2% year on year. This number surpassed analysts’ expectations by 0.6%. Overall, it was a satisfactory quarter as it also logged a narrow beat of analysts’ full-year EPS guidance estimates.

The stock is up 13% since reporting and currently trades at $618.10.

Read our full, actionable report on Chemed here, it’s free.

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