The Pennant Group, which provides home health, personal care, hospice and senior living services, saw robust earnings and profit growth in the fourth quarter and 2023 full year following a period of aggressive expansion activity.
During the quarter ended Dec. 31, Pennant’s net income increased by nearly 23% to $4.3 million as revenues grew 17% to about $146 million, according to an earnings report. Home health, home care and hospice services made up the bulk of its earnings, contributing a total of about $107 million. That’s about 18% year-over-year growth over the fourth quarter 2022. For the year as a whole, The Pennant Group’s net income jumped by 92% to almost $14 million, while revenues rose by 15% to about $545 million.
Multiple strategic acquisitions in 2023 helped drive growth throughout the year and will be the “foundation of success” in years to come, company leaders said during an earnings conference call Thursday.
“We remain focused on our disciplined strategy of acquiring operations with attractive valuations in locations where we have strong peer operating clusters and talented leaders ready to drive results,” John Gochnour, chief operating officer, said during the call. “Consistent with that strategy, we executed a steady stream of sweet spot acquisitions during the second half of 2023.”
Some of Pennant’s recent acquisitions include Valor HospiceCare, a provider serving more than 25 Arizona communities, and Bluebird Home Health, Hospice and Home Care, which operates in Idaho. The company remains focused on strategic growth, especially within areas that will allow it to better serve rural populations, Gochnour said.
“We are excited that several of these acquisitions create new opportunities to serve residents of rural communities in our existing states,” he noted. “Our historical strength and operating in rural areas demonstrates the unique advantage of our operating model.”
The Pennant Group also began a joint venture with John Muir Health Center on the first of this year. In this partnership, Pennant assumed majority stake in and will provide operational and administrative management at Muir Home Health locations.
