Barclays analyst Andrew Mok raised the price target on Community Health (NYSE: CYH) to $5.00 (from $3.00) while maintaining a Equalweight rating.

The analyst comments "Hurricanes, Denials Drive Miss: On Wednesday (10/23), after market close, CYH reported 3Q EBITDA of $347 mn, which came in 5% below consensus estimates. The miss is not a promising start to hospital earnings but was largely driven by 1) a $7 mn impact from Hurricane Helene; and 2) a $10 mn impact related to accelerating denials by insurers (new negative). Meanwhile, revenue narrowly beat consensus (+40 bps), supported by solid volumes (+2.6%) and pricing (2.5%). Unit wage inflation was higher than we expected (+370 bps q/q), but flattish on a samestore basis. CYH finished the quarter with $67 mn in CFO and 7.7x net leverage."