Critical Contrast: Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) versus LifeMD (NASDAQ:LFMD)

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) and LifeMD (NASDAQ:LFMD) are both medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, profitability and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Elevance Health and LifeMD, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Elevance Health	0	9	14	0	2.61
LifeMD	1	1	8	0	2.70

Elevance Health presently has a consensus price target of $416.11, indicating a potential upside of 5.09%. LifeMD has a consensus price target of $9.14, indicating a potential upside of 100.94%. Given LifeMD’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe LifeMD is more favorable than Elevance Health.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

89.2% of Elevance Health shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 35.5% of LifeMD shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Elevance Health shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 17.2% of LifeMD shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Elevance Health and LifeMD’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Elevance Health	2.62%	15.58%	5.57%
LifeMD	2.37%	-150.88%	-22.59%

Risk & Volatility

Elevance Health has a beta of 0.67, meaning that its stock price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, LifeMD has a beta of 1.98, meaning that its stock price is 98% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Elevance Health and LifeMD”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Elevance Health	$199.13 billion	0.43	$5.66 billion	$23.51	16.84
LifeMD	$193.33 million	1.14	$14.35 million	$0.05	91.00

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

Summary

Elevance Health beats LifeMD on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Elevance Health

Elevance Health, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a health benefits company in the United States. The company operates through four segments: Health Benefits, CarelonRx, Carelon Services, and Corporate & Other. It offers a variety of health plans and services to program members; health products; an array of fee-based administrative managed care services; and specialty and other insurance products and services, such as stop loss, dental, vision, life, disability, and supplemental health insurance benefits. The company operates in the pharmacy services business; and markets and offers pharmacy services, including pharmacy benefit management, as well as home delivery and specialty pharmacies, claims adjudication, formulary management, pharmacy networks, rebate administration, a prescription drug database, and member services. In addition, it provides healthcare-related services and capabilities, including utilization management, behavioral health, integrated care delivery, palliative care, payment integrity services, subrogation services, and health and wellness programs, as well as services related to data management, information technology, and business operations. Further, the company is involved in the National Government Services business. The company provides its services under the Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Wellpoint, and Carelon brand names. The company was formerly known as Anthem, Inc. and changed its name to Elevance Health, Inc. in June 2022. Elevance Health, Inc. was incorporated in 2001 and is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana.

About LifeMD

LifeMD, Inc. operates as a direct-to-patient telehealth company that connects consumers to healthcare professionals for medical care in the United States. The company offers telehealth platform comprising RexMD, a men's telehealth brand that provides access to virtual medical treatment for a variety of men's health needs from licensed physician; ShapiroMD that provides virtual medical treatment, prescription medications, patented doctor formulated OTC products, topical compounded medications, and medical devices treating male and female hair loss; NavaMD, a female-oriented tele-dermatology that offers virtual medical treatment from dermatologists and other providers; and prescription oral and compounded topical medications to treat aging and acne; and Cleared which provides personalized treatments for allergy, asthma and immunology, including in-home tests for both environmental and food allergies, prescriptions for allergies and asthma and immunotherapies for treating chronic allergies. It also provides LifeMD PC, a direct-to-consumer virtual primary care which includes 24/7 access to a provider for their primary care, urgent care, and chronic care needs; and offers virtual consultations and treatment, prescription medications, diagnostics and imaging, wellness coaching, and more. In addition, the company offers PDFSimpli, an online software as a service platform that allows users to create, edit, convert, sign, and share PDF documents; ResumeBuild which provides digital resume and cover letter services; SignSimpli, a digital signature platform; and LegalSimpli, a provider of legal forms for consumers and small businesses. It sells its products directly to consumers and through e-commerce platforms, as well as through third party partner channels. The company was formerly known as Conversion Labs, Inc. and changed its name to LifeMD, Inc. in February 2021. LifeMD, Inc. was incorporated in 1994 and is headquartered in New York, New York.