What Happened?
Shares of outpatient physical therapy provider U.S. Physical Therapy (NYSE: USPH) jumped 4.4% in the afternoon session after the stock continued to rally as the company reported solid first-quarter 2026 results, highlighted by strong revenue growth and a confirmation of its full-year financial outlook.
The company’s total revenue for the quarter reached $198 million, a 7.9% increase compared to the same period in the previous year. This growth was driven by a nearly 7% rise in patient visits, improved commercial rates, and expansion in its physical therapy and industrial injury prevention services.
In addition to the positive financial performance, U.S. Physical Therapy reaffirmed its 2026 guidance, signaling confidence to investors about its business prospects for the remainder of the year. The company also completed two acquisitions and renegotiated its credit facility on better terms.
After the initial pop the shares cooled down to $62.02, up 4.5% from previous close.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
U.S. Physical Therapy’s shares are not very volatile and have only had 4 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful, although it might not be something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The biggest move we wrote about over the last year was 6 months ago when the stock dropped 11.5% on the news that the company reported third-quarter results that pointed to declining year-over-year profitability, despite revenue beating expectations.
The company announced adjusted earnings of $0.66 per share, which was in line with analyst estimates but represented a decrease from the $0.69 per share earned in the same quarter last year. While U.S. Physical Therapy's revenue grew 17.3% year-on-year to $197.1 million, surpassing Wall Street's forecast, the drop in per-share earnings appeared to be the primary concern for investors. The weaker profitability, alongside a slight miss on adjusted EBITDA, overshadowed the strong sales growth, leading to a negative market reaction.
U.S. Physical Therapy is down 21.4% since the beginning of the year, and at $62.02 per share, it is trading 33.4% below its 52-week high of $93.16 from October 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of U.S. Physical Therapy’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at only $545.47.
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