Stock Market Today, Oct. 26: Surgery Partners Skyrockets 48% on $5.7 Billion HealthSpan Acquisition

Surgery Partners (NASDAQ:SGRY), an outpatient surgery center operator and ancillary care services provider, closed at $23.25, up 47.62%. The stock jumped after reports of a $5.7 billion all-cash acquisition by HealthSpan Partners, and investors are watching the deal price and regulatory steps next. Trading volume reached 58.3M shares, coming in about 1,772% above its three-month average of 3.1M shares. Surgery Partners IPO'd in 2015 and has grown 22% since going public.

How the markets moved today

S&P 500 (SNPINDEX:^GSPC) closed at 7,677, up 0.70%, while the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX:^IXIC) closed at 26,169, up 0.82%. Among outpatient surgical facilities and ancillary healthcare services peers, Tenet Healthcare (NYSE:THC) closed at $268.94, up 0.18%, while HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) closed at $464.74, down 0.91%.

What this means for investors

Surgery Partners shares soared 48% after news broke that it was being acquired by HealthSpan Partners, an affiliate of Bon Secours Mercy Health. The all-cash, $5.7 billion deal works out to $23.50 per share for existing SGRY shareholders.

Following today's share price spike, SGRY stock now trades less than 1% below the acquisition price, strongly suggesting the market expects the deal to go through. The acquisition is expected to be finalized in the first quarter of 2027.

While the deal may seem like a windfall for investors, the take-private offering price puts shares at roughly the level they traded at a year ago, so this is a buy-low opportunity for HealthSpan. If I were a SGRY shareholder, I'd probably take the cash and move on, especially since Bain Capital holds roughly 39% of SGRY's stock and is voting to approve the deal.

Josh Kohn-Lindquist has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends HCA Healthcare. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.