Head to Head Analysis: Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) and CorVel (NASDAQ:CRVL)

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) and CorVel (NASDAQ:CRVL) are both healthcare companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, risk, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and profitability.

Volatility and Risk

Guardant Health has a beta of 1.57, indicating that its share price is 57% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CorVel has a beta of 0.97, indicating that its share price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Guardant Health	$982.02 million	24.46	-$416.28 million	($3.49)	-51.29
CorVel	$958.53 million	4.01	$110.34 million	$2.25	33.48

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

92.6% of Guardant Health shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 51.4% of CorVel shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.6% of Guardant Health shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 39.7% of CorVel shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Guardant Health and CorVel, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Guardant Health	1	0	23	1	2.96
CorVel	0	1	0	0	2.00

Guardant Health presently has a consensus target price of $188.54, indicating a potential upside of 5.33%. Given Guardant Health’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Guardant Health is more favorable than CorVel.

Profitability

This table compares Guardant Health and CorVel’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Guardant Health	-38.33%	N/A	-25.40%
CorVel	11.72%	29.92%	17.82%

Summary

Guardant Health beats CorVel on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Guardant Health

Guardant Health, Inc., a precision oncology company, provides blood and tissue tests, data sets, and analytics in the United States and internationally. The company provides Guardant360; Guardant360 LDT; Guardant360 CDx Test; Guardant360 Response Test; Guardant360 TissueNext Test; GuardantINFINITY Test; GuardantConnect, an integrated software-based solution designed for clinical and biopharmaceutical customers to connect patients tested with assays with actionable alterations with potentially relevant clinical studies; GuardantOMNI Test for advanced stage cancer; and GuardantINFORM, an in-silico research platform for tumor evolution and treatment resistance across various biomarker-driven cancers. It offers Shield Test; Guardant Reveal Test for adjuvant treatment selection in early-stage cancer patients; Smart Liquid Biopsy Platform; and Guardant Galaxy, an AI-backed digital pathology platform that helps improve cancer biomarker detection. In addition, the company offers development services, including companion diagnostic development and regulatory approval, clinical study setup, monitoring and maintenance, testing development and support, technologies licensing, and kits fulfillment. The company has a collaboration agreement with Illumina, Inc. for the sharing of specimen samples to advance cancer research. The company was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.

About CorVel

CorVel Corporation provides workers’ compensation, auto, liability, and health solutions. It applies technology, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, and natural language processing to enhance the managing of episodes of care and the related health care costs. The company also offers network solutions services, including automated medical fee auditing, preferred provider management and reimbursement, retrospective utilization review, facility claim review, professional review, pharmacy, directed care, clearinghouse, independent medical examination, and inpatient medical bill review services, as well as Medicare solutions. In addition, it provides a range of patient management services, such as claims management, case management, 24/7 nurse triage, utilization management, vocational rehabilitation, and life care planning, as well as processing of claims for self-insured payors with respect to property and casualty insurance. The company offers solutions to employers, third party administrators, insurance companies, and government agencies to assist them in managing the medical costs and monitoring the quality of care associated with healthcare claims. CorVel Corporation was incorporated in 1987 and is based in Fort Worth, Texas.