Head to Head Review: Alignment Healthcare (NASDAQ:ALHC) vs. LifeStance Health Group (NASDAQ:LFST)

LifeStance Health Group (NASDAQ:LFST) and Alignment Healthcare (NASDAQ:ALHC) are both healthcare companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for LifeStance Health Group and Alignment Healthcare, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
LifeStance Health Group	0	4	6	1	2.73
Alignment Healthcare	0	4	7	0	2.64

LifeStance Health Group presently has a consensus price target of $12.88, indicating a potential upside of 2.10%. Alignment Healthcare has a consensus price target of $23.60, indicating a potential upside of 171.26%. Given Alignment Healthcare’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Alignment Healthcare is more favorable than LifeStance Health Group.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

85.5% of LifeStance Health Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.2% of Alignment Healthcare shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.5% of LifeStance Health Group shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 5.2% of Alignment Healthcare shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

LifeStance Health Group has a beta of 1.22, suggesting that its stock price is 22% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Alignment Healthcare has a beta of 1.11, suggesting that its stock price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares LifeStance Health Group and Alignment Healthcare’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
LifeStance Health Group	3.19%	3.39%	2.33%
Alignment Healthcare	0.89%	20.02%	3.46%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares LifeStance Health Group and Alignment Healthcare”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
LifeStance Health Group	$1.42 billion	3.38	$9.66 million	$0.13	97.00
Alignment Healthcare	$4.58 billion	0.39	-$720,000.00	$0.19	45.79

LifeStance Health Group has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Alignment Healthcare. Alignment Healthcare is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than LifeStance Health Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Alignment Healthcare beats LifeStance Health Group on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About LifeStance Health Group

LifeStance Health Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides outpatient mental health services to children, adolescents, adults, and geriatrics in the United States. The company offers patients a suite of mental health services, including psychiatric evaluations and treatment, psychological, and neuropsychological testing, as well as individual, family, and group therapy. It treats a range of mental health conditions, including anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, psychotic disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder. In addition, the company operates an outpatient mental health platform, as well as offers patient care virtually through its online delivery platform or in-person at its centers. LifeStance Health Group, Inc. was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona.

About Alignment Healthcare

Alignment Healthcare, Inc., a tech-enabled Medicare advantage company, operates consumer-centric health care platform for seniors in the United States. It provides customized health care designed to meet the needs of a diverse array of seniors through its Medicare advantage plans. The company was founded in 2013 and is based in Orange, California.