Comparing Aethlon Medical (NASDAQ:AEMD) and UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH)

Aethlon Medical (NASDAQ:AEMD) and UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) are both medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, profitability, valuation and institutional ownership.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

2.0% of Aethlon Medical shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.9% of UnitedHealth Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.2% of Aethlon Medical shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of UnitedHealth Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Aethlon Medical has a beta of 1.72, suggesting that its stock price is 72% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, UnitedHealth Group has a beta of 0.43, suggesting that its stock price is 57% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Aethlon Medical and UnitedHealth Group”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Aethlon Medical	$570,000.00	5.20	-$13.39 million	($12.64)	-0.09
UnitedHealth Group	$400.28 billion	0.69	$14.41 billion	$23.08	13.17

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

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Aethlon Medical	N/A	-266.21%	-179.46%
UnitedHealth Group	5.04%	23.32%	7.66%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Aethlon Medical and UnitedHealth Group, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Aethlon Medical	0	1	0	0	2.00
UnitedHealth Group	3	6	15	0	2.50

Aethlon Medical presently has a consensus target price of $56.00, suggesting a potential upside of 4,812.28%. UnitedHealth Group has a consensus target price of $366.5238, suggesting a potential upside of 20.56%. Given Aethlon Medical’s higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Aethlon Medical is more favorable than UnitedHealth Group.

Summary

UnitedHealth Group beats Aethlon Medical on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Aethlon Medical

Aethlon Medical, Inc., a medical therapeutic company, focuses on developing products to treat cancer and life-threatening infectious diseases in the United States. It develops Hemopurifier, a clinical-stage immunotherapeutic device that removes tumor-derived exosomes and life-threatening viruses and use in organ transplantation. The company was incorporated in 1999 and is based in San Diego, California.

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.