UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) versus AMN Healthcare Services (NYSE:AMN) Head to Head Survey

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for UnitedHealth Group and AMN Healthcare Services, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
UnitedHealth Group	0	8	20	0	2.71
AMN Healthcare Services	0	4	4	0	2.50

UnitedHealth Group presently has a consensus target price of $465.75, indicating a potential upside of 25.29%. AMN Healthcare Services has a consensus target price of $36.00, indicating a potential downside of 1.95%. Given UnitedHealth Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe UnitedHealth Group is more favorable than AMN Healthcare Services.

Risk & Volatility

UnitedHealth Group has a beta of 0.6, indicating that its share price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AMN Healthcare Services has a beta of 0.4, indicating that its share price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

87.9% of UnitedHealth Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.2% of AMN Healthcare Services shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of UnitedHealth Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of AMN Healthcare Services shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares UnitedHealth Group and AMN Healthcare Services’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
UnitedHealth Group	3.14%	16.53%	5.43%
AMN Healthcare Services	3.06%	19.92%	5.93%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares UnitedHealth Group and AMN Healthcare Services”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
UnitedHealth Group	$447.57 billion	0.75	$12.06 billion	$15.54	23.92
AMN Healthcare Services	$2.73 billion	0.52	-$95.70 million	$2.68	13.70

UnitedHealth Group has higher revenue and earnings than AMN Healthcare Services. AMN Healthcare Services 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 AMN Healthcare Services on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About UnitedHealth Group

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated operates as a diversified health care company in the United States. The company operates through four segments: UnitedHealthcare, Optum Health, Optum Insight, and Optum Rx. The UnitedHealthcare segment offers consumer-oriented health benefit plans and services for national employers, public sector employers, mid-sized employers, small businesses, and individuals; health care coverage, and health and well-being services to individuals age 50 and older addressing their needs; Medicaid plans, children's health insurance and health care programs; and health and dental benefits, and hospital and clinical services, as well as health care benefits products and services to state programs caring for the economically disadvantaged, medically underserved, and those without the benefit of employer-funded health care coverage. The Optum Health segment provides care delivery, care management, wellness and consumer engagement, and health financial services patients, consumers, care delivery systems, providers, employers, payers, and public-sector entities. The Optum Insight segment offers software and information products, advisory consulting arrangements, and managed services outsourcing contracts to hospital systems, physicians, health plans, governments, life sciences companies, and other organizations. The Optum Rx segment provides pharmacy care services and programs, including retail network contracting, home delivery, specialty and community health pharmacy services, infusion, and purchasing and clinical capabilities, as well as develops programs in the areas of step therapy, formulary management, drug adherence, and disease/drug therapy management. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated was founded in 1974 and is based in Minnetonka, Minnesota.

About AMN Healthcare Services

AMN Healthcare Services, Inc. provides healthcare workforce solutions and staffing services to healthcare facilities in the United States. It operates through three segments: Nurse and Allied Solutions, Physician and Leadership Solutions, and Technology and Workforce Solutions. The Nurse and Allied Solutions segment offers travel nurse staffing, labor disruption staffing, local staffing, international nurse and allied permanent placement, and allied staffing solutions. The Physician and Leadership Solutions segment provides locum tenens staffing, healthcare interim leadership staffing, executive search, and physician permanent placement solutions. The Technology and Workforce Solutions segment offers language services, vendor management systems, workforce optimization, and outsourced solutions. The company also provides allied health professionals, such as physical therapists, respiratory therapists, occupational therapists, medical and radiology technologists, lab technicians, speech pathologists, rehabilitation assistants, and pharmacists. It offers its services under the brands, including AMN Healthcare, Nursefinders, HealthSource Global Staffing, O'Grady Peyton International, Connetics, Medical Search International, DRW Healthcare Staffing, and B.E. Smith. AMN Healthcare Services, Inc. was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.