Contrasting UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) & OPKO Health (NASDAQ:OPK)

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) and OPKO Health (NASDAQ:OPK) are both healthcare companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for UnitedHealth Group and OPKO Health, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
UnitedHealth Group	0	8	20	0	2.71
OPKO Health	1	2	4	0	2.43

UnitedHealth Group currently has a consensus price target of $463.93, suggesting a potential upside of 16.35%. OPKO Health has a consensus price target of $3.42, suggesting a potential upside of 103.98%. Given OPKO Health’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe OPKO Health is more favorable than UnitedHealth Group.

Risk and Volatility

UnitedHealth Group has a beta of 0.51, suggesting that its share price is 49% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, OPKO Health has a beta of 1.52, suggesting that its share price is 52% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

87.9% of UnitedHealth Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 64.6% of OPKO Health shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of UnitedHealth Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 44.7% of OPKO Health shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares UnitedHealth Group and OPKO Health’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
UnitedHealth Group	3.53%	17.95%	5.95%
OPKO Health	-29.51%	-10.90%	-6.93%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares UnitedHealth Group and OPKO Health”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
UnitedHealth Group	$447.57 billion	0.80	$12.06 billion	$17.51	22.77
OPKO Health	$654.10 million	1.90	-$225.68 million	($0.19)	-8.82

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

Summary

UnitedHealth Group beats OPKO Health on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About UnitedHealth Group

UnitedHealth Group is a diversified health care company that provides health benefits and health services through two main businesses: UnitedHealthcare and Optum. UnitedHealthcare offers health insurance and related benefit plans to individuals, employers and government programs, including Medicare and Medicaid. Optum provides services across the health care system, including care delivery, pharmacy services, pharmacy benefit management, health technology and data analytics. Its businesses serve consumers, health care providers, employers, health plans and government organizations.

About OPKO Health

OPKO Health is a healthcare company with businesses in diagnostics and pharmaceuticals. Its diagnostic offerings have included BioReference Health laboratory services and the 4Kscore test, which helps assess the risk of aggressive prostate cancer. OPKO’s pharmaceutical products include Rayaldee, a prescription treatment for certain adults with chronic kidney disease and vitamin D insufficiency. The company also co-developed NGENLA, a long-acting growth hormone treatment for children with growth hormone deficiency, with Pfizer.