Well it looks like Sheryl Skolnick, an analyst with Fulcrum Global Partners, who decided that Tenet was worth a break-up value of $9.40 a share was about half-right. That number was the bottom a few months back when various suckers (i.e. me) threw in their hands too early. Yesterday Tenet said that it would lose $117M in the first quarter. Wall Street has decided that with around $9 as a base for the stock price, it’s more likely than not that Tenet will get over its legal problems, have only better quarters from now on, and have enough cash to survive this current crisis. The stock is back up close to $12. Obvioulsy you be the judge and caveat emptor.

There’s much more in this article in AMA News, including this quote blaming Wall Street for expecting too much from hospitals, again from Sheryl Skolnick:

“The hospitals simply can’t generate the year-after-year earnings that Wall Street wants,” she said. “I think Wall Street has to realize that these are real estate based, highly regulated businesses.”

The quote reminds me of one of the first (and what I immodestly think is one of the best) articles I wrote at TCHB, called Why Wall Street Hates Health Care Services, But Doesn’t Know It.