Contrasting UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) and Nutex Health (NASDAQ:NUTX)

Nutex Health (NASDAQ:NUTX) and UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) are both healthcare companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability and risk.

Volatility and Risk

Nutex Health has a beta of 0.55, meaning that its stock price is 45% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, UnitedHealth Group has a beta of 0.6, meaning that its stock price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Nutex Health and UnitedHealth Group”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Nutex Health	$875.26 million	1.69	$70.79 million	$25.47	8.50
UnitedHealth Group	$447.57 billion	0.75	$12.06 billion	$15.54	23.92

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

5.3% of Nutex Health shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.9% of UnitedHealth Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 44.7% of Nutex Health shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of UnitedHealth Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Nutex Health and UnitedHealth Group, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Nutex Health	0	1	2	1	3.00
UnitedHealth Group	0	8	20	0	2.71

Nutex Health presently has a consensus target price of $317.50, suggesting a potential upside of 46.65%. UnitedHealth Group has a consensus target price of $465.75, suggesting a potential upside of 25.29%. Given Nutex Health’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Nutex Health is more favorable than UnitedHealth Group.

Profitability

This table compares Nutex Health and UnitedHealth Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Nutex Health	21.25%	39.74%	18.91%
UnitedHealth Group	3.14%	16.53%	5.43%

Summary

Nutex Health beats UnitedHealth Group on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Nutex Health

Nutex Health Inc. operates as a physician-led, healthcare services, and operations company. It operates through three segments: Hospital, Population Health Management (PHM), and Real Estate. The PHM segment establishes and operates independent physician associations; and offers a cloud-based platform for healthcare organizations to provide value-based care and population health management. The Real Estate segment owns and owns and leases land and hospital building. The Hospital segment develops and operates a network of micro-hospitals, specialty hospitals and hospital outpatient departments which offers 24/7 care. It also provides operational and managerial services, including management, billing, collections, human resources and recruiting, legal, accounting, and marketing. In addition, the company offers healthcare services, including emergency room care, inpatient care, and behavioral health, as well as onsite imaging, such as CT scan, X-ray, MRI, ultrasound, etc.; certified and accredited laboratories; and onsite inpatient pharmacies. The company was founded in 2011 and is based in Houston, Texas.

About UnitedHealth Group

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated operates as a diversified health care company in the United States. The company operates through four segments: UnitedHealthcare, Optum Health, Optum Insight, and Optum Rx. The UnitedHealthcare segment offers consumer-oriented health benefit plans and services for national employers, public sector employers, mid-sized employers, small businesses, and individuals; health care coverage, and health and well-being services to individuals age 50 and older addressing their needs; Medicaid plans, children's health insurance and health care programs; and health and dental benefits, and hospital and clinical services, as well as health care benefits products and services to state programs caring for the economically disadvantaged, medically underserved, and those without the benefit of employer-funded health care coverage. The Optum Health segment provides care delivery, care management, wellness and consumer engagement, and health financial services patients, consumers, care delivery systems, providers, employers, payers, and public-sector entities. The Optum Insight segment offers software and information products, advisory consulting arrangements, and managed services outsourcing contracts to hospital systems, physicians, health plans, governments, life sciences companies, and other organizations. The Optum Rx segment provides pharmacy care services and programs, including retail network contracting, home delivery, specialty and community health pharmacy services, infusion, and purchasing and clinical capabilities, as well as develops programs in the areas of step therapy, formulary management, drug adherence, and disease/drug therapy management. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated was founded in 1974 and is based in Minnetonka, Minnesota.