Critical Review: Ardent Health Partners (NYSE:ARDT) and HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA)

Ardent Health Partners (NYSE:ARDT) and HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) are both medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, risk, dividends, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Ardent Health Partners and HCA Healthcare”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ardent Health Partners	$5.41 billion	0.44	$53.90 million	N/A	N/A
HCA Healthcare	$64.97 billion	1.22	$5.24 billion	$22.27	14.10

HCA Healthcare has higher revenue and earnings than Ardent Health Partners.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

62.7% of HCA Healthcare shares are held by institutional investors. 1.6% of HCA Healthcare shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Ardent Health Partners and HCA Healthcare’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ardent Health Partners	N/A	N/A	N/A
HCA Healthcare	8.52%	520.98%	10.09%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Ardent Health Partners and HCA Healthcare, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ardent Health Partners	0	2	8	2	3.00
HCA Healthcare	1	4	11	2	2.78

Ardent Health Partners currently has a consensus price target of $21.82, indicating a potential upside of 30.65%. HCA Healthcare has a consensus price target of $387.13, indicating a potential upside of 23.32%. Given Ardent Health Partners’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Ardent Health Partners is more favorable than HCA Healthcare.

Summary

HCA Healthcare beats Ardent Health Partners on 9 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ardent Health Partners

Ardent Health Partners, Inc. owns and operates a network of hospitals and clinics that provides a range of healthcare services in the United States. It operates acute care hospitals, including rehabilitation hospitals and surgical hospitals. The company was founded in 2001 and is based in Brentwood, Tennessee. Ardent Health Partners, Inc. is a subsidiary of EGI-AM Investments, L.L.C.

About HCA Healthcare

HCA Healthcare, Inc., through its subsidiaries, owns and operates hospitals and related healthcare entities in the United States. It operates general and acute care hospitals that offers medical and surgical services, including inpatient care, intensive care, cardiac care, diagnostic, and emergency services; and outpatient services, such as outpatient surgery, laboratory, radiology, respiratory therapy, cardiology, and physical therapy. The company also operates outpatient health care facilities consisting of freestanding ambulatory surgery centers, freestanding emergency care facilities, urgent care facilities, walk-in clinics, diagnostic and imaging centers, rehabilitation and physical therapy centers, radiation and oncology therapy centers, physician practices, and various other facilities. In addition, it operates behavioral hospitals, which provide therapeutic programs comprising child, adolescent and adult psychiatric care, adolescent and adult alcohol, drug abuse treatment, and counseling services. The company was formerly known as HCA Holdings, Inc. HCA Healthcare, Inc. was founded in 1968 and is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee.