(Reuters) - HCA Healthcare ( HCA ) raised its annual profit forecast on Tuesday, after beating Wall Street estimates for quarterly earnings, sending shares of the hospital operator up nearly 7% before the bell.

Hospitals are expected to benefit from healthy demand for medical care. Over the past year, demand has been robust as Americans, especially older adults, schedule non-urgent procedures they had deferred due to the pandemic.

Some analysts expect hospitals to benefit from an overall ageing population in the United States, while others also said a shift to ambulatory care centers that do not require patients to stay overnight has also aided demand.

The largest for-profit hospital operator in the United States now sees 2024 profit in the range of $21.60 to $22.80 per share, compared with its previous estimate of $19.70 to $21.20. Analysts were expecting an annual profit of $20.98, according to LSEG data.

For the second quarter, the company reported a profit of $5.50 per share. Analysts on average had expected a profit of $4.88, according to LSEG data.

(Reporting by Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)