Critical Comparison: The Pennant Group (NASDAQ:PNTG) & Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH)

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) and The Pennant Group (NASDAQ:PNTG) are both healthcare companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation and risk.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Guardant Health and The Pennant Group”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Guardant Health	$1.18 billion	20.03	-$416.28 million	($3.49)	-50.60
The Pennant Group	$1.10 billion	1.29	$29.58 million	$0.90	45.19

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

92.6% of Guardant Health shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 85.9% of The Pennant Group shares are held by institutional investors. 5.6% of Guardant Health shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 6.9% of The Pennant Group shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Guardant Health and The Pennant Group, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Guardant Health	1	0	23	1	2.96
The Pennant Group	0	1	7	0	2.88

Guardant Health currently has a consensus price target of $188.12, suggesting a potential upside of 6.53%. The Pennant Group has a consensus price target of $41.60, suggesting a potential upside of 2.29%. Given Guardant Health’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Guardant Health is more favorable than The Pennant Group.

Volatility and Risk

Guardant Health has a beta of 1.57, indicating that its share price is 57% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, The Pennant Group has a beta of 1.27, indicating that its share price is 27% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Guardant Health and The Pennant Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Guardant Health	-38.33%	N/A	-25.40%
The Pennant Group	2.93%	10.33%	4.20%

Summary

Guardant Health beats The Pennant Group on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Guardant Health

Guardant Health, Inc., a precision oncology company, provides blood and tissue tests, data sets, and analytics in the United States and internationally. The company provides Guardant360; Guardant360 LDT; Guardant360 CDx Test; Guardant360 Response Test; Guardant360 TissueNext Test; GuardantINFINITY Test; GuardantConnect, an integrated software-based solution designed for clinical and biopharmaceutical customers to connect patients tested with assays with actionable alterations with potentially relevant clinical studies; GuardantOMNI Test for advanced stage cancer; and GuardantINFORM, an in-silico research platform for tumor evolution and treatment resistance across various biomarker-driven cancers. It offers Shield Test; Guardant Reveal Test for adjuvant treatment selection in early-stage cancer patients; Smart Liquid Biopsy Platform; and Guardant Galaxy, an AI-backed digital pathology platform that helps improve cancer biomarker detection. In addition, the company offers development services, including companion diagnostic development and regulatory approval, clinical study setup, monitoring and maintenance, testing development and support, technologies licensing, and kits fulfillment. The company has a collaboration agreement with Illumina, Inc. for the sharing of specimen samples to advance cancer research. The company was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.

About The Pennant Group

The Pennant Group, Inc. provides healthcare services in the United States. It operates in two segments, Home Health and Hospice Services, and Senior Living Services. The company offers home health services, including clinical services, such as nursing, speech, occupational and physical therapy, medical social work, and home health aide services; and hospice services comprising clinical care, education, and counseling services for the physical, spiritual, and psychosocial needs of terminally ill patients and their families. It also provides senior living services, such as residential accommodations, activities, meals, housekeeping, and assistance in the activities of daily living to seniors who are independent or who require some support. The company operates home health, hospice, and home care agencies, as well as senior living communities throughout Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. The Pennant Group, Inc. was incorporated in 2019 and is headquartered in Eagle, Idaho.