Financial Review: Astrana Health (NASDAQ:ASTH) vs. McKesson (NYSE:MCK)

Astrana Health (NASDAQ:ASTH) and McKesson (NYSE:MCK) are both healthcare companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk and profitability.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Astrana Health and McKesson”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Astrana Health	$3.84 billion	0.55	$22.49 million	$0.82	46.49
McKesson	$403.43 billion	0.26	$4.76 billion	$37.37	23.75

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

Profitability

This table compares Astrana Health and McKesson’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Astrana Health	1.05%	10.30%	3.67%
McKesson	1.12%	-253.21%	5.90%

Volatility and Risk

Astrana Health has a beta of 0.9, indicating that its share price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, McKesson has a beta of 0.3, indicating that its share price is 70% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Astrana Health and McKesson, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Astrana Health	0	2	7	0	2.78
McKesson	0	4	14	0	2.78

Astrana Health currently has a consensus price target of $49.43, indicating a potential upside of 29.67%. McKesson has a consensus price target of $973.44, indicating a potential upside of 9.66%. Given Astrana Health’s higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Astrana Health is more favorable than McKesson.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

52.8% of Astrana Health shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 85.1% of McKesson shares are owned by institutional investors. 20.3% of Astrana Health shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of McKesson shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

McKesson beats Astrana Health on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Astrana Health

Astrana Health, Inc., Inc., a physician-centric technology-powered healthcare management company, provides medical care services in the United States. It operates through three segments: Care Partners, Care Delivery, and Care Enablement. The company is leveraging its proprietary population health management and healthcare delivery platform, operates an integrated, value-based healthcare model which empowers the providers in its network to deliver care to its patients. It offers care coordination services to patients, families, primary care physicians, specialists, acute care hospitals, alternative sites of inpatient care, physician groups, and health plans. The company's physician network consists of primary care physicians, specialist physicians and extenders, and hospitalists. It serves patients, primarily covered by private or public insurance, such as Medicare, Medicaid, and health maintenance organization plans; and non-insured patients. The company was formerly known as Apollo Medical Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to Astrana Health, Inc. in February 2024. Astrana Health, Inc. was incorporated in 1985 and is headquartered in Alhambra, California.

About McKesson

McKesson Corporation provides healthcare services in the United States and internationally. It operates through four segments: U.S. Pharmaceutical, Prescription Technology Solutions (RxTS), Medical-Surgical Solutions, and International. The U.S. Pharmaceutical segment distributes branded, generic, specialty, biosimilar and over-the-counter pharmaceutical drugs, and other healthcare-related products. This segment also offers practice management, technology, clinical support, and business solutions to community-based oncology and other specialty practices; and consulting, outsourcing, technological, and other services, as well as sells financial, operational, and clinical solutions to pharmacies. The RxTS segment serves biopharma and life sciences partners, and patients to address medication challenges for patients by working across healthcare; connects patients, pharmacies, providers, pharmacy benefit managers, health plans, and biopharma companies to deliver innovative solutions to help people get the medicine needed to live healthier lives; and provides prescription price transparency, benefit insight, dispensing support, third-party logistics, and wholesale distribution support services. The Medical-Surgical Solutions segment offers medical-surgical supply distribution, logistics, and other services to healthcare providers, including physician offices, surgery centers, nursing homes, hospital reference labs, and home health care agencies. The International segment provides distribution and services to wholesale, institutional, and retail customers in Europe and Canada. McKesson Corporation was founded in 1833 and is headquartered in Irving, Texas.