Ardent Health Partners (NYSE:ARDT) and Universal Health Services (NYSE:UHS) Critical Analysis

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

86.1% of Universal Health Services shares are held by institutional investors. 16.1% of Universal Health Services shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Ardent Health Partners and Universal Health Services’ 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
Universal Health Services	6.66%	15.75%	7.18%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Ardent Health Partners and Universal Health Services, 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
Universal Health Services	0	6	9	1	2.69

Ardent Health Partners presently has a consensus price target of $21.82, indicating a potential upside of 31.51%. Universal Health Services has a consensus price target of $231.14, indicating a potential upside of 14.60%. Given Ardent Health Partners’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Ardent Health Partners is more favorable than Universal Health Services.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Ardent Health Partners and Universal Health Services”s gross revenue, earnings per share 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
Universal Health Services	$14.28 billion	0.94	$717.79 million	$15.04	13.41

Universal Health Services has higher revenue and earnings than Ardent Health Partners.

Summary

Universal Health Services beats Ardent Health Partners on 9 of the 12 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 Universal Health Services

Universal Health Services, Inc., through its subsidiaries, owns and operates acute care hospitals, and outpatient and behavioral health care facilities. It operates through Acute Care Hospital Services and Behavioral Health Care Services segments. The company's hospitals offer general and specialty surgery, internal medicine, obstetrics, emergency room care, radiology, oncology, diagnostic and coronary care, pediatric services, pharmacy services, and/or behavioral health services. It also provides commercial health insurance services; and various management services, which include central purchasing, information, finance and control systems, facilities planning, physician recruitment, administrative personnel management, marketing, and public relations services. Universal Health Services, Inc. founded in 1978 and is headquartered in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.