Head to Head Analysis: SBC Medical Group (NASDAQ:SBC) & Ardent Health (NYSE:ARDT)

SBC Medical Group (NASDAQ:SBC) and Ardent Health (NYSE:ARDT) are both small-cap healthcare companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, institutional ownership, risk and profitability.

Volatility and Risk

SBC Medical Group has a beta of 0.56, meaning that its share price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ardent Health has a beta of 0.72, meaning that its share price is 28% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for SBC Medical Group and Ardent Health, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
SBC Medical Group	0	1	2	0	2.67
Ardent Health	2	6	7	0	2.33

SBC Medical Group currently has a consensus price target of $8.50, suggesting a potential upside of 58.58%. Ardent Health has a consensus price target of $12.79, suggesting a potential upside of 9.15%. Given SBC Medical Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe SBC Medical Group is more favorable than Ardent Health.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares SBC Medical Group and Ardent Health”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
SBC Medical Group	$173.61 million	3.18	$50.99 million	$0.47	11.40
Ardent Health	$6.32 billion	0.26	$135.81 million	$0.55	21.31

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

60.8% of SBC Medical Group shares are held by institutional investors. 81.7% of SBC Medical Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.9% of Ardent Health shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares SBC Medical Group and Ardent Health’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
SBC Medical Group	27.99%	18.47%	13.10%
Ardent Health	1.22%	10.35%	3.36%

Summary

SBC Medical Group beats Ardent Health on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About SBC Medical Group

SBC Medical Group Holdings Incorporated, through its subsidiaries, provides services to support the operation of clinics which deliver specialized medical services in the areas of cosmetic medicine, esthetic dentistry and Androgenetic Alopecia or AGA, primarily in Japan and centered on the SBC Shonan Beauty Clinic Brand. SBC Medical Group Holdings Incorporated, formerly known as Pono Capital Two Inc., is based in TOKYO.

About Ardent Health

Ardent Health Partners, Inc. owns and operates a network of hospitals and clinics that provides a range of healthcare services in the United States. It operates acute care hospitals, including rehabilitation hospitals and surgical hospitals. The company was founded in 2001 and is based in Brentwood, Tennessee. Ardent Health Partners, Inc. is a subsidiary of EGI-AM Investments, L.L.C.