Analyst lowers hospital estimates

A Raymond James analyst lowered his third-quarter estimates for three hospital operators on Tuesday, saying it looks like patient admissions will be lower than he expected. Analyst John Ransom said it looks like admissions got weaker during the quarter, particularly in September, while other trends have been unfavorable. He lowered his net income estimates for Community Health Systems Inc. and Universal Health Services Inc., which will report their third-quarter results later this month, and Tenet Healthcare Corp., which will make its report in November.