Reviewing Exagen (NASDAQ:XGN) and Universal Health Services (NYSE:UHS)

Universal Health Services (NYSE:UHS) and Exagen (NASDAQ:XGN) are both healthcare companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, valuation and dividends.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Universal Health Services and Exagen”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Universal Health Services	$18.11 billion	0.57	$1.49 billion	$24.55	7.14
Exagen	$66.57 million	2.97	-$19.95 million	($0.81)	-10.09

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Universal Health Services and Exagen, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Universal Health Services	0	12	6	0	2.33
Exagen	1	0	7	1	2.89

Universal Health Services presently has a consensus target price of $204.94, suggesting a potential upside of 16.91%. Exagen has a consensus target price of $9.62, suggesting a potential upside of 17.81%. Given Exagen’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Exagen is more favorable than Universal Health Services.

Profitability

This table compares Universal Health Services and Exagen’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Universal Health Services	8.42%	19.39%	9.21%
Exagen	-26.61%	-104.46%	-28.93%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

86.1% of Universal Health Services shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.2% of Exagen shares are owned by institutional investors. 17.1% of Universal Health Services shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 10.4% of Exagen shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

Universal Health Services has a beta of 1.03, meaning that its stock price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Exagen has a beta of 2.12, meaning that its stock price is 112% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Universal Health Services beats Exagen on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Universal Health Services

Universal Health Services, Inc., through its subsidiaries, owns and operates acute care hospitals, and outpatient and behavioral health care facilities. It operates through Acute Care Hospital Services and Behavioral Health Care Services segments. The company's hospitals offer general and specialty surgery, internal medicine, obstetrics, emergency room care, radiology, oncology, diagnostic and coronary care, pediatric services, pharmacy services, and/or behavioral health services. It also provides commercial health insurance services; and various management services, which include central purchasing, information, finance and control systems, facilities planning, physician recruitment, administrative personnel management, marketing, and public relations services. Universal Health Services, Inc. founded in 1978 and is headquartered in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.

About Exagen

Exagen Inc. develops and commercializes various testing products under the AVISE brand in the United States. The company enables healthcare providers to care for patients through the diagnosis, prognosis, and monitoring of autoimmune and autoimmune-related diseases, including systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Its lead testing product is AVISE CTD that enables differential diagnosis for patients presenting with symptoms indicative of various connective tissue diseases (CTDs) and other related diseases with overlapping symptoms. The company offers AVISE Lupus that measures activation of the complement system by quantifying the level of B-cell C4d and erythrocyte bound C4d in the patient's blood; and AVISE APS, which consists of a panel of autoantibody tests that aids in the diagnosis and management of APS. In addition, it provides AVISE Vasculitis AAV, which utilizes a testing panel of individual analytes to provide physicians with results in the assessment and monitoring of anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody associated vasculitis; AVISE SLE Prognostic, a panel of autoantibodies for assessing the potential for complications affecting the kidney, brain, and cardiovascular system; and AVISE Anti-CarP test, which identifies RA patients with severe disease. Further, the company offers AVISE SLE Monitor, a biomarker blood test; AVISE MTX, a patented and validated blood test; and AVISE HCQ, a blood test to monitor levels of hydroxychloroquine. It has a research collaboration and license agreement with Allegheny Health Network (AHN) Research Institute to develop novel patented biomarkers. The company was formerly known as Exagen Diagnostics, Inc. and changed its name to Exagen Inc. in January 2019. Exagen Inc. was incorporated in 2002 and is headquartered in Vista, California.