Contrasting Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) & Concentra Group Holdings Parent (NYSE:CON)

Concentra Group Holdings Parent (NYSE:CON) and Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) are both healthcare companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Concentra Group Holdings Parent and Cardinal Health, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Concentra Group Holdings Parent	0	0	8	2	3.20
Cardinal Health	0	3	16	0	2.84

Concentra Group Holdings Parent presently has a consensus price target of $41.29, suggesting a potential upside of 2.78%. Cardinal Health has a consensus price target of $270.69, suggesting a potential upside of 6.85%. Given Cardinal Health’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Cardinal Health is more favorable than Concentra Group Holdings Parent.

Risk & Volatility

Concentra Group Holdings Parent has a beta of 0.51, indicating that its stock price is 49% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cardinal Health has a beta of 0.53, indicating that its stock price is 47% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

87.2% of Cardinal Health shares are held by institutional investors. 8.1% of Concentra Group Holdings Parent shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Cardinal Health shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Concentra Group Holdings Parent pays an annual dividend of $0.25 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Cardinal Health pays an annual dividend of $2.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Concentra Group Holdings Parent pays out 16.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Cardinal Health pays out 28.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Cardinal Health has increased its dividend for 29 consecutive years. Cardinal Health is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Concentra Group Holdings Parent and Cardinal Health”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Concentra Group Holdings Parent	$2.16 billion	2.37	$166.41 million	$1.55	25.92
Cardinal Health	$254.25 billion	0.23	$1.71 billion	$7.23	35.04

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

Profitability

This table compares Concentra Group Holdings Parent and Cardinal Health’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Concentra Group Holdings Parent	8.69%	47.81%	7.04%
Cardinal Health	0.67%	-98.53%	4.69%

Summary

Cardinal Health beats Concentra Group Holdings Parent on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Concentra Group Holdings Parent

Concentra Group Holdings Parent, Inc. provides occupational health services in the United States. The company offers occupational and consumer health services, including workers’ compensation injury care, urgent care, clinical testing, preventative care, and employer services, as well as wellness programs through occupational health centers and onsite clinics. It also provides Concentra Telemed, a telemedicine solution for the treatment of work-related injuries and illnesses, and employer services; pharmacy solution under the Concentra Pharmacy name; and Concentra Medical Compliance Administration, a third-party administrator that helps to manage abuse testing programs for employers with regulated or non-regulated workforces. The company was founded in 1979 and is based in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. Concentra Group Holdings Parent, Inc. is a subsidiary of Select Medical Corporation.

About Cardinal Health

Cardinal Health, Inc. operates as a healthcare services and products company in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, and internationally. It provides customized solutions for hospitals, healthcare systems, pharmacies, ambulatory surgery centers, clinical laboratories, physician offices, and patients in the home. The company operates in two segments, Pharmaceutical and Medical. The Pharmaceutical segment distributes branded and generic pharmaceutical, specialty pharmaceutical, and over-the-counter healthcare and consumer products. The segment also provides services to pharmaceutical manufacturers and healthcare providers for specialty pharmaceutical products; operates nuclear pharmacies and radiopharmaceutical manufacturing facilities; repackages generic pharmaceuticals and over-the-counter healthcare products; and provides pharmacy management services to hospitals. The Medical segment manufactures, sources, and distributes Cardinal Health branded medical, surgical, and laboratory products and devices that include exam and surgical gloves; needles, syringe, and sharps disposals; compressions; incontinences; nutritional delivery products; wound care products; single-use surgical drapes, gowns, and apparels; fluid suction and collection systems; urology products; operating room supply products; and electrode product lines. The segment also distributes a range of national brand products, including medical, surgical, and laboratory products; provides supply chain services and solutions to hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, clinical laboratories, and other healthcare providers; and assembles and sells sterile, and non-sterile procedure kits. The company was incorporated in 1979 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ohio.