Medpace (NASDAQ:MEDP) versus Ardent Health (NYSE:ARDT) Critical Survey

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

78.0% of Medpace shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.7% of Ardent Health shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 20.3% of Medpace shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Ardent Health has a beta of 0.72, meaning that its stock price is 28% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Medpace has a beta of 1.42, meaning that its stock price is 42% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings for Ardent Health and Medpace, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ardent Health	2	4	6	0	2.33
Medpace	3	7	4	0	2.07

Ardent Health currently has a consensus price target of $14.58, suggesting a potential upside of 52.12%. Medpace has a consensus price target of $487.36, suggesting a potential upside of 13.86%. Given Ardent Health’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Ardent Health is more favorable than Medpace.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Ardent Health and Medpace”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ardent Health	$5.97 billion	0.23	$210.34 million	$1.45	6.61
Medpace	$2.53 billion	4.80	$451.12 million	$15.30	27.98

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

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ardent Health	3.24%	19.02%	6.04%
Medpace	17.83%	118.82%	25.07%

Summary

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

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.

About Medpace

Medpace Holdings, Inc. engages in the provision of outsourced clinical development services to the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device industries. Its services include medical department, clinical trial management, data-driven feasibility, study-start-up, clinical monitoring, regulatory affairs, patient recruitment and retention, medical writing, biometrics and data sciences, pharmacovigilance, core laboratory, laboratories, clinics, and quality assurance. The company was founded by August James Troendle in 1992 and is headquartered in Cincinnati, OH.