Hospital Fans Watch HCA

HCA management, together with other private investors, offered to buy the stock for $51 a share instead.

The stock, unchanged at $50.30 on Friday, has hovered safely around that level ever since.

Smoke Signals

HCA normally kicks off the sector's earnings season by releasing its results first.

However, the company -- which can soon keep its numbers to itself -- has yet to formally announce a target date for its third-quarter report.

"I don't think anybody really cares what their third-quarter earnings will be," Skolnick says, "except as a signal of what other hospital companies might report."

For what it's worth, analysts have predicted that HCA will earn just 66 cents a share in the third quarter -- less than it has during any period over the past year.

The company earned 77 cents a share last quarter and still fell short of Wall Street expectations.

Meanwhile, Tenet (THC Quote) -- HCA's largest competitor -- looks set to report another money-losing quarter.

Skolnick believes that Tenet continues to suffer from falling admissions but predicts that the drop-off, this time around, will prove less steep than it has been in the past.

Skolnick has a buy rating on the company's stock, once a $50 highflier that slipped 6 cents to $8.18 on Friday.

It is the only hospital name that she recommends buying. Skolnick doesn't own the stock, and her firm doesn't do banking in the sector.

In contrast, Skolnick has been warning investors to sell shares of Health Management Associates (HMA Quote) outright.

The rural hospital chain is expected to report third-quarter earnings of 30 cents a share -- down from recent quarters -- when it releases its latest results this month.