Tenet posts 1Q loss, adjusted results beat biew

But its results excluding one-time items and discontiunued operations beat Wall Street expectations and the company said admissions rose 1 percent at hospitals open at least a year, the second straight quarterly gain after a long string of falling admissions.

The Dallas-based company said it lost $31 million, or 6 cents per share, in the three months ended March 31 compared with a profit of $75 million, or 16 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items -a litigation charge of $30 million, or 6 cents per share, and losses from discontinued operations of $21 million, or 4 cents per share -the company would have earned 4 cents per shares in the most recent quarter.

Analysts, who exclude items from their forecasts, had expected the company to earn a penny per share, according to a survey by Thomson Financial.

Revenue rose to $2.37 billion from $2.22 billion a year ago, and slightly higher than the $2.35 billion that analysts had expected.

Its shares slipped 2 cents to $6.45 in premarket trading.

Chief Executive Trevor Fetter said he was "very pleased" with the company's progress in attracting patients, pointing to the growth in admissions, which he said continued in April. The company has spent millions on equipment and lobbied doctors to send their patients to its hospitals.

However, outpatient visits fell 1.1 percent on a same-hospital basis, which the company blamed on increasing competition from physician-owned facilities.

Tenet had to step up its courting of doctors. Admissions had been falling after the company endured investigations and lawsuits over patient care and overbilling Medicare.