Tenet Healthcare shares jump 13 percent on report it may seek sale

Shares of Tenet Healthcare surged 13 percent after The Wall Street Journal reported the company is exploring its options, including a possible sale of the company, citing sources.

Tenet, one of the largest hospital companies in the U.S., has hired banking advisors to consider a number of possibilities, The Wall Street Journal reported. The process is still in an early phase, and there is no guarantee a deal may come about, according to The Journal.

A Tenet spokeswoman declined CNBC’s request for comment.

The Dallas Morning News reported last week that Glenview Capital Management, an activist investor that owns 17.8 percent of Tenet’s stock, said in a regulatory filing it will consider options to enhance shareholder value, including “strategic alternatives” for Tenet’s assets, divisions and the company as a whole.

Tenet CEO Trevor Fetter discussed continuing to make divestitures but did not mention the possibility of a sale in an appearance at the Wells Fargo Health Care conference last week.

Last month, Tenet said it would replace the longtime CEO and members of its board amid mounting pressure from Glenview. Fetter will step down by March 15, 2018, or when his successor is appointed, if that happens first.

Glenview pulled two of its executives from the hospital company’s board last month, citing irreconcilable differences.

Shares of Tenet have gained about 15½ percent this year, but they have fallen 72 percent over the past three years.

Tenet shares over the past three years

Source: FactSet

— Reuters contributed to this report.