Reviewing Ardent Health (NYSE:ARDT) & Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR)

Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) and Ardent Health (NYSE:ARDT) are both medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership and risk.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Icon	5.35%	8.73%	4.96%
Ardent Health	2.09%	13.85%	4.48%

Volatility and Risk

Icon has a beta of 1.22, indicating that its stock price is 22% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ardent Health has a beta of 0.76, indicating that its stock price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Icon and Ardent Health, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Icon	3	6	9	0	2.33
Ardent Health	2	5	7	0	2.36

Icon presently has a consensus price target of $173.19, suggesting a potential upside of 3.11%. Ardent Health has a consensus price target of $14.04, suggesting a potential upside of 42.71%. Given Ardent Health’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Ardent Health is more favorable than Icon.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

95.6% of Icon shares are held by institutional investors. 44.0% of Icon 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 endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Icon and Ardent Health”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Icon	$8.25 billion	1.56	$229.34 million	$5.62	29.89
Ardent Health	$6.32 billion	0.22	$135.81 million	$0.95	10.36

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

Summary

Icon beats Ardent Health on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Icon

ICON Public Limited Company, a clinical research organization, provides outsourced development and commercialization services in Ireland, rest of Europe, the United States, and internationally. The company specializes in the strategic development, management, and analysis of programs that support various stages of the clinical development process from compound selection to Phase I-IV clinical studies. It also offers clinical development services, including all phases of development, peri and post approval, data solutions, and site and patient access services; clinical trial management, consulting, and contract staffing services; and commercial services comprising clinical development strategy, planning and trial design, full study execution, and post-market commercialization. In addition, the company provides laboratory services, including bionanalytical, biomarker, vaccine, good manufacturing practice, and central laboratory services, as well as full-service and functional service partnerships to customers. Further, it offers adaptive trials, cardiac safety solutions, clinical and scientific operations, consulting and advisory, commercial positioning, decentralized and hybrid clinical trials, early clinical, laboratories, language services, medical imaging, real world intelligence, site and patient, and strategic solutions. The company serves pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device industries, as well as government and public health organizations. ICON Public Limited Company was incorporated in 1990 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.

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.