Acadia Healthcare Company, Inc. (ACHC) · Nov 4, 2026 · Earnings
Beat — Adj. EPS $0.60 vs ~$0.46 consensus; revenue $895.3M vs ~$877.8M
Acadia Healthcare earnings beat Q3 estimates and lifted 2026 guidance, with acute growth accelerating but EBITDA helped by a Florida payment benefit.
Acadia is in a capacity-expansion phase, trying to convert a large acute-bed buildout into sustained utilization and earnings growth after second-quarter profitability was pressured by professional-liability costs and the timing of supplemental payments.
The quarter cleared the market’s bar by a meaningful margin. Adjusted EPS was $0.60 versus published consensus of roughly $0.46, while revenue was $895.3 million versus roughly $877.8 million expected. Total revenue rose 5.1% year over year, and adjusted EBITDA increased only 2.0%, so the earnings beat was stronger than the headline operating growth alone suggests.
| Metric | Q3 2026 | Q3 2025 | Consensus / prior guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue (Third Quarter Financial Summary) | $895.3M (+5.1%) | $851.6M | ~$877.8M consensus |
| Adjusted EPS (Third Quarter Financial Summary) | $0.60 (-16.7%) | $0.72 | ~$0.46 consensus |
| Adjusted EBITDA (Third Quarter Financial Summary) | $176.4M (+2.0%) | $173.0M | — |
| FY revenue guidance (Guidance Range) | $3.44–$3.46B | — | $3.40–$3.45B prior |
| FY adjusted EBITDA guidance (Guidance Range) | $615–$625M | — | $590–$615M prior |
| FY adjusted EPS guidance (Guidance Range) | $1.70–$1.80 | — | $1.45–$1.60 prior |
| FY operating cash flow (Guidance Range) | $375–$400M | — | $350–$400M prior |
| FY capital expenditures (Guidance Range) | $210–$230M | — | $235–$255M prior |
The most important change is the raised full-year outlook. The midpoint of adjusted EBITDA guidance increased about 3%, while the adjusted EPS midpoint rose about 15%; capital-spending guidance also fell by roughly 10%. That combination says Acadia now expects better earnings conversion and less cash investment than it assumed in July, not merely a one-quarter variance.
Acute expansion is producing the clearest operating traction. Acute revenue increased 11.3%, acute inpatient volumes rose 7.5%, and the company added 220 licensed beds, including a new 144-bed facility near Jacksonville. 〔0〕 This supports the company’s central growth strategy, although Specialty revenue fell 8.2% and CTC revenue fell 2.3%, showing that growth remains concentrated rather than broad-based.
The earnings quality is good but not entirely clean. Same-facility revenue rose 5.2% and same-facility EBITDA rose 6.1% in the quarter, but the nine-month same-facility EBITDA figure was down 1.6%. The quarterly EBITDA result also included a $13.4 million Florida supplemental-payment accrual, versus $5.6 million assumed in the prior guidance. That benefit explains part of the upside and means the underlying improvement is better than the reported nine-month trend, but not as strong as the adjusted EPS beat alone implies.
Balance-sheet pressure eased, but leverage remains material. Net leverage declined to 3.9x adjusted EBITDA from 4.1x at June 30, while liquidity increased to $710.1 million of revolver availability. That gives the expansion program more room, though the company remains exposed to labor costs, Medicaid changes and reimbursement timing.
Bottom line: Acadia delivered a genuine earnings beat and raised its full-year outlook materially, strengthening the expansion story. The main qualification is that a sizable Florida payment benefit helped the quarter, so the result is clearly better than expected but not a pure underlying-margin breakthrough.
November 5 earnings call
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