Ardent Health Partners (NYSE:ARDT) and Tenet Healthcare (NYSE:THC) Critical Comparison

Ardent Health Partners (NYSE:ARDT) and Tenet Healthcare (NYSE:THC) are both medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations and risk.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

95.4% of Tenet Healthcare shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of Tenet Healthcare shares are held by company 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.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Ardent Health Partners and Tenet Healthcare”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ardent Health Partners	$5.41 billion	0.43	$53.90 million	N/A	N/A
Tenet Healthcare	$20.55 billion	0.76	$611.00 million	$31.21	5.29

Tenet Healthcare has higher revenue and earnings than Ardent Health Partners.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings for Ardent Health Partners and Tenet Healthcare, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ardent Health Partners	0	2	8	2	3.00
Tenet Healthcare	0	1	14	3	3.11

Ardent Health Partners presently has a consensus price target of $21.64, indicating a potential upside of 32.17%. Tenet Healthcare has a consensus price target of $165.35, indicating a potential upside of 0.09%. Given Ardent Health Partners’ higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Ardent Health Partners is more favorable than Tenet Healthcare.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ardent Health Partners	N/A	N/A	N/A
Tenet Healthcare	14.91%	24.05%	3.85%

Summary

Tenet Healthcare beats Ardent Health Partners on 11 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ardent Health Partners

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.

About Tenet Healthcare

Tenet Healthcare Corporation operates as a diversified healthcare services company in the United States. The company operates through two segments: Hospital Operations and Services, and Ambulatory Care. Its general hospitals offer acute care services, operating and recovery rooms, radiology and respiratory therapy services, clinical laboratories, and pharmacies. The company also provides intensive and critical care, and/or coronary care units; cardiovascular, digestive disease, neurosciences, musculoskeletal, and obstetrics services; outpatient services, including physical therapy; tertiary care services, such as cardiothoracic surgery, complex spinal surgery, neonatal intensive care, and neurosurgery services; quaternary care services in heart and kidney transplants; and limb salvaging vascular procedure, acute level 1 trauma, intravascular stroke care, minimally invasive cardiac valve replacement, imaging, surgical robotic, and telemedicine access services. In addition, it offers a range of procedures and services, such as orthopedics, total joint replacement, and spinal and other musculoskeletal procedures; gastroenterology; pain management; otolaryngology; ophthalmology; and urology. It operates hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, imaging centers, surgical hospitals, off-campus emergency departments, and micro-hospitals. Tenet Healthcare Corporation was founded in 1967 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.