Comparing Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) and Agilon Health (NYSE:AGL)

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) and Agilon Health (NYSE:AGL) are both medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Elevance Health and Agilon Health, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Elevance Health	0	8	15	0	2.65
Agilon Health	3	6	5	0	2.14

Elevance Health currently has a consensus target price of $440.90, suggesting a potential upside of 16.83%. Agilon Health has a consensus target price of $66.50, suggesting a potential downside of 32.03%. Given Elevance Health’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Elevance Health is more favorable than Agilon Health.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Elevance Health and Agilon Health”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Elevance Health	$199.12 billion	0.41	$5.66 billion	$22.50	16.77
Agilon Health	$5.93 billion	0.28	-$391.35 million	($21.56)	-4.54

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

Profitability

This table compares Elevance Health and Agilon Health’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Elevance Health	2.47%	14.64%	5.22%
Agilon Health	-6.09%	-146.03%	-24.55%

Risk and Volatility

Elevance Health has a beta of 0.67, meaning that its share price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Agilon Health has a beta of 2.98, meaning that its share price is 198% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

89.2% of Elevance Health shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Elevance Health shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.5% of Agilon Health shares are held 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.

Summary

Elevance Health beats Agilon Health on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Elevance Health

Elevance Health, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a health benefits company in the United States. The company operates through four segments: Health Benefits, CarelonRx, Carelon Services, and Corporate & Other. It offers a variety of health plans and services to program members; health products; an array of fee-based administrative managed care services; and specialty and other insurance products and services, such as stop loss, dental, vision, life, disability, and supplemental health insurance benefits. The company operates in the pharmacy services business; and markets and offers pharmacy services, including pharmacy benefit management, as well as home delivery and specialty pharmacies, claims adjudication, formulary management, pharmacy networks, rebate administration, a prescription drug database, and member services. In addition, it provides healthcare-related services and capabilities, including utilization management, behavioral health, integrated care delivery, palliative care, payment integrity services, subrogation services, and health and wellness programs, as well as services related to data management, information technology, and business operations. Further, the company is involved in the National Government Services business. The company provides its services under the Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Wellpoint, and Carelon brand names. The company was formerly known as Anthem, Inc. and changed its name to Elevance Health, Inc. in June 2022. Elevance Health, Inc. was incorporated in 2001 and is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana.

About Agilon Health

agilon health, inc. provides healthcare services for seniors through primary care physicians in the communities of the United States. It offers a platform that manages the total healthcare needs of the patients by subscription-like per-member per-month. The company was formerly known as Agilon Health Topco, Inc. and changed its name to agilon health, inc. in March 2021. agilon health, inc. was founded in 2016 and is based in Austin, Texas.