Head-To-Head Review: Acadia Healthcare (NASDAQ:ACHC) versus GeneDx (NASDAQ:WGS)

Acadia Healthcare (NASDAQ:ACHC) and GeneDx (NASDAQ:WGS) are both mid-cap healthcare companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Acadia Healthcare and GeneDx, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Acadia Healthcare	2	5	7	1	2.47
GeneDx	1	0	7	1	2.89

Acadia Healthcare currently has a consensus price target of $29.85, indicating a potential upside of 7.55%. GeneDx has a consensus price target of $89.57, indicating a potential upside of 3.29%. Given Acadia Healthcare’s higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Acadia Healthcare is more favorable than GeneDx.

Profitability

This table compares Acadia Healthcare and GeneDx’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Acadia Healthcare	-33.44%	6.19%	2.42%
GeneDx	-23.41%	4.12%	2.26%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

61.7% of GeneDx shares are held by institutional investors. 1.2% of Acadia Healthcare shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 25.2% of GeneDx shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Acadia Healthcare has a beta of 0.63, meaning that its stock price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, GeneDx has a beta of 1.99, meaning that its stock price is 99% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Acadia Healthcare and GeneDx”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Acadia Healthcare	$3.31 billion	0.78	-$1.10 billion	($12.45)	-2.23
GeneDx	$427.54 million	6.05	-$21.02 million	($3.64)	-23.82

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

Summary

GeneDx beats Acadia Healthcare on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Acadia Healthcare

Acadia Healthcare Company, Inc. provides behavioral healthcare services in the United States and Puerto Rico. The company develops and operates acute inpatient psychiatric facilities, specialty treatment facilities comprising residential recovery facilities and eating disorder facilities, comprehensive treatment centers, and residential treatment centers, as well as facilities offering outpatient behavioral healthcare services for the behavioral healthcare and recovery needs of communities. Acadia Healthcare Company, Inc. was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Franklin, Tennessee.

About GeneDx

GeneDx Holdings Corp., through its subsidiaries, provides genomics-related diagnostic and information services. The company offers Centrellis, an AI-driven health intelligence platform that integrates digital tools and artificial intelligence allowing scientists to ingest and synthesize clinical and genomic data to deliver comprehensive health insights. It provides genetic diagnostic tests, screening solutions, and information with a focus on pediatrics, rare diseases for children and adults, and hereditary cancer screening. GeneDx Holdings Corp. was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut.