Head to Head Survey: Ardent Health (NYSE:ARDT) & Sotera Health (NASDAQ:SHC)

Sotera Health (NASDAQ:SHC) and Ardent Health (NYSE:ARDT) are both medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, earnings and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares Sotera Health and Ardent Health’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sotera Health	4.82%	43.69%	6.54%
Ardent Health	3.24%	19.02%	6.04%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Sotera Health and Ardent Health, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sotera Health	0	3	7	0	2.70
Ardent Health	2	4	6	0	2.33

Sotera Health currently has a consensus price target of $20.00, indicating a potential upside of 16.82%. Ardent Health has a consensus price target of $14.58, indicating a potential upside of 52.12%. Given Ardent Health’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Ardent Health is more favorable than Sotera Health.

Volatility & Risk

Sotera Health has a beta of 1.82, meaning that its share price is 82% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ardent Health has a beta of 0.72, meaning that its share price is 28% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

91.0% of Sotera Health shares are held by institutional investors. 47.6% of Sotera Health shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.7% of Ardent Health shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Sotera Health and Ardent Health”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sotera Health	$1.10 billion	4.42	$44.34 million	$0.19	90.11
Ardent Health	$5.97 billion	0.23	$210.34 million	$1.45	6.61

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

Summary

Sotera Health beats Ardent Health on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sotera Health

Sotera Health Company engages in the provision of sterilization, lab testing, and advisory services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Sterigenics, Nordion, and Nelson Labs. It provides mission-critical end-to-end sterilization services, including gamma and electron beam irradiation, and ethylene oxide processing, as well as designs, installs, and maintains gamma irradiation systems. The company also provides microbiological and analytical chemistry testing, as well as technical assistance, regulatory consulting, and advisory services. It serves medical devices, pharmaceuticals, food safety, agricultural products, cancer treatment, and high-performance materials industries, as well as commercial, advanced, and specialty application industries. The company was formerly known as Sotera Health Topco, Inc. and changed its name to Sotera Health Company in October 2020. Sotera Health Company was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in Broadview Heights, Ohio.

About Ardent Health

Ardent Health Partners, Inc. owns and operates a network of hospitals and clinics that provides a range of healthcare services in the United States. It operates acute care hospitals, including rehabilitation hospitals and surgical hospitals. The company was founded in 2001 and is based in Brentwood, Tennessee. Ardent Health Partners, Inc. is a subsidiary of EGI-AM Investments, L.L.C.