UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) versus Option Care Health (NASDAQ:OPCH) Head-To-Head Review

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

98.1% of Option Care Health shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.9% of UnitedHealth Group shares are held by institutional investors. 1.7% of Option Care Health shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of UnitedHealth Group shares are held by company 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.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Option Care Health and UnitedHealth Group”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Option Care Health	$5.69 billion	0.60	$207.59 million	$1.33	17.02
UnitedHealth Group	$447.57 billion	0.75	$12.06 billion	$15.54	23.92

UnitedHealth Group has higher revenue and earnings than Option Care Health. Option Care 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.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Option Care Health and UnitedHealth Group, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Option Care Health	0	7	7	0	2.50
UnitedHealth Group	0	8	20	0	2.71

Option Care Health currently has a consensus price target of $29.92, indicating a potential upside of 32.17%. UnitedHealth Group has a consensus price target of $465.75, indicating a potential upside of 25.29%. Given Option Care Health’s higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Option Care Health is more favorable than UnitedHealth Group.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Option Care Health	3.68%	18.74%	7.25%
UnitedHealth Group	3.14%	16.53%	5.43%

Risk & Volatility

Option Care Health has a beta of 0.58, meaning that its share price is 42% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, UnitedHealth Group has a beta of 0.6, meaning that its share price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

UnitedHealth Group beats Option Care Health on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Option Care Health

Option Care Health, Inc. offers home and alternate site infusion services in the United States. The company provides anti-infective therapies; home infusion services to treat heart failures; home parenteral nutrition and enteral nutrition support services for numerous acute and chronic conditions, such as stroke, cancer, and gastrointestinal diseases; immunoglobulin infusion therapies for the treatment of immune deficiencies; and treatments for chronic inflammatory disorders, including crohn’s disease, plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis, and other chronic inflammatory disorders. It also offers treatments to manage the progression of neurological disorders, such as multiple sclerosis, duchenne muscular dystrophy, and other neurological disorder; infusion therapies for bleeding disorders, such as hemophilia and von Willebrand diseases; therapies for women with high-risk pregnancies; and other infusion therapies to treat various conditions, including pain management, chemotherapy, and respiratory medications, as well as nursing services. The company markets its services through patient referrals, including physicians, hospital discharge planners, hospital personnel, health maintenance organizations, and preferred provider organizations. Option Care Health, Inc. is headquartered in Bannockburn, Illinois.

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.