Contrasting Astrana Health (NASDAQ:ASTH) & Aveanna Healthcare (NASDAQ:AVAH)

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

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Astrana Health and Aveanna Healthcare”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Astrana Health	$2.90 billion	0.45	$43.15 million	$0.19	121.16
Aveanna Healthcare	$2.02 billion	0.92	-$10.93 million	$0.36	24.72

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

Volatility & Risk

Astrana Health has a beta of 0.86, suggesting that its share price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Aveanna Healthcare has a beta of 2.04, suggesting that its share price is 104% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Astrana Health	0.33%	1.26%	0.60%
Aveanna Healthcare	3.29%	-143.55%	4.71%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

52.8% of Astrana Health shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 88.0% of Aveanna Healthcare shares are held by institutional investors. 20.0% of Astrana Health shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 7.8% of Aveanna Healthcare shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Astrana Health and Aveanna Healthcare, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Astrana Health	2	2	7	0	2.45
Aveanna Healthcare	0	6	4	0	2.40

Astrana Health presently has a consensus target price of $43.00, suggesting a potential upside of 86.79%. Aveanna Healthcare has a consensus target price of $10.19, suggesting a potential upside of 14.47%. Given Astrana Health’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Astrana Health is more favorable than Aveanna Healthcare.

Summary

Astrana Health beats Aveanna Healthcare on 8 of the 14 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 Aveanna Healthcare

Aveanna Healthcare Holdings Inc., a diversified home care platform company, provides pediatric and adult healthcare services in the United States. Its patient-centered care delivery platform allows patients to remain in their homes and minimizes the overutilization of high-cost care settings, such as hospitals or skilled nursing facilities. The company operates through three segments: Private Duty Services (PDS), Home Health & Hospice (HHH), and Medical Solutions (MS). The PDS segment offers PDN services, which include in-home skilled nursing services to medically fragile children and adults; nursing services in school settings in which its caregivers accompany patients to school; services to patients in its pediatric day healthcare centers; and employer of record support and personal care services, as well as in-clinic and home-based therapy services, such as physical, occupational, and speech services. The HHH segment provides home health services, including in-home skilled nursing services; physical, occupational, and speech therapy services; and medical social and aide services, as well as hospice services for patients and their families when a life-limiting illness no longer responds to cure-oriented treatments. The MS segment offers enteral nutrition supplies and other products, including formulas, supplies, and pumps to adults and children delivered on a periodic or as-needed basis. The company was incorporated in 2016 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.