Reviewing Marpai (NASDAQ:MRAI) and Auna (NYSE:AUNA)

Auna (NYSE:AUNA) and Marpai (NASDAQ:MRAI) are both small-cap healthcare companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, dividends, earnings, profitability and institutional ownership.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

49.7% of Marpai shares are owned by institutional investors. 46.1% of Marpai shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Auna and Marpai”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Auna	$1.23 billion	0.32	$27.39 million	$0.26	20.25
Marpai	$34.87 million	1.67	-$28.75 million	($0.87)	-2.49

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Auna and Marpai, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Auna	1	2	1	1	2.40
Marpai	0	0	0	0	0.00

Auna presently has a consensus price target of $6.97, suggesting a potential upside of 32.35%. Given Auna’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Auna is more favorable than Marpai.

Volatility and Risk

Auna has a beta of 0.61, indicating that its share price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Marpai has a beta of 4.92, indicating that its share price is 392% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Auna and Marpai’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Auna	1.53%	16.25%	4.03%
Marpai	-85.70%	N/A	-100.23%

Summary

Auna beats Marpai on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Auna

Auna S.A., a healthcare service provider, operates hospitals and clinics in Mexico, Peru, and Colombia. The company provides prepaid healthcare plans in Peru; and dental and vision plans in Mexico. The company was founded in 1989 and is based in Luxembourg, Luxembourg.

About Marpai

Marpai, Inc., a technology-driven healthcare payer, focuses on providing services to the self-insured employer market in the United States and Israel. The company offers ancillary services, such as care management, case management, actuarial services, bill review and cost containment services. Marpai, Inc. was incorporated in 2021 and is based in Tampa, Florida.