Critical Analysis: Astrana Health (NASDAQ:ASTH) versus Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN)

Astrana Health (NASDAQ:ASTH) and Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) are both medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, risk, dividends, valuation and earnings.

Volatility and Risk

Astrana Health has a beta of 0.85, indicating that its share price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Elanco Animal Health has a beta of 1.62, indicating that its share price is 62% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Astrana Health	1.04%	3.43%	1.87%
Elanco Animal Health	9.68%	7.04%	3.45%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Astrana Health and Elanco Animal Health, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Astrana Health	1	3	6	0	2.50
Elanco Animal Health	0	3	5	1	2.78

Astrana Health currently has a consensus target price of $53.29, indicating a potential upside of 89.76%. Elanco Animal Health has a consensus target price of $18.33, indicating a potential downside of 2.29%. Given Astrana Health’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Astrana Health is more favorable than Elanco Animal Health.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

52.8% of Astrana Health shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.5% of Elanco Animal Health shares are owned by institutional investors. 20.0% of Astrana Health shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Elanco Animal Health shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Astrana Health and Elanco Animal Health”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Astrana Health	$2.03 billion	0.77	$43.15 million	$0.51	55.06
Elanco Animal Health	$4.44 billion	2.10	$338.00 million	$0.86	21.82

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

Summary

Elanco Animal Health beats Astrana Health on 11 of the 15 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 Elanco Animal Health

Elanco Animal Health Incorporated, an animal health company, innovates, develops, manufactures, and markets products for pets and farm animals. It offers pet health disease prevention products, such as parasiticide and vaccine products that protect pets from worms, fleas, and ticks under the Seresto, Advantage, Advantix, and Advocate brands; pet health therapeutics for pain, osteoarthritis, ear infections, cardiovascular, and dermatology indications in canines and felines under the Galliprant and Claro brands; vaccines, antibiotics, parasiticides, and other products for use in poultry and aquaculture production, as well as nutritional health products, including enzymes, probiotics, and prebiotics; and a range of vaccines, antibiotics, implants, parasiticides, and other products used in ruminant and swine production under the Rumensin and Baytril brands. The company sells its products to third-party distributors; veterinarians; and farm animal producers, including beef and dairy farmers, as well as pork, poultry, and aquaculture operations. Elanco Animal Health Incorporated was founded in 1954 and is headquartered in Greenfield, Indiana.