Head-To-Head Survey: Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) and Option Care Health (NASDAQ:OPCH)

Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) and Option Care Health (NASDAQ:OPCH) are both medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, risk and dividends.

Risk and Volatility

Elanco Animal Health has a beta of 1.71, meaning that its share price is 71% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Option Care Health has a beta of 0.88, meaning that its share price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Elanco Animal Health	0.78%	7.41%	3.64%
Option Care Health	3.93%	17.53%	7.17%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

97.5% of Elanco Animal Health shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.1% of Option Care Health shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of Elanco Animal Health shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Option Care Health shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Elanco Animal Health and Option Care Health, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Elanco Animal Health	1	3	6	1	2.64
Option Care Health	0	3	9	0	2.75

Elanco Animal Health currently has a consensus price target of $20.29, indicating a potential downside of 7.93%. Option Care Health has a consensus price target of $35.67, indicating a potential upside of 22.82%. Given Option Care Health’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Option Care Health is more favorable than Elanco Animal Health.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Elanco Animal Health and Option Care Health”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Elanco Animal Health	$4.44 billion	2.47	$338.00 million	$0.06	367.20
Option Care Health	$5.53 billion	0.83	$211.82 million	$1.26	23.05

Elanco Animal Health has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Option Care Health. Option Care Health is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Elanco Animal Health, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Option Care Health beats Elanco Animal Health on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Elanco Animal Health

Elanco Animal Health Incorporated, an animal health company, innovates, develops, manufactures, and markets products for pets and farm animals. It offers pet health disease prevention products, such as parasiticide and vaccine products that protect pets from worms, fleas, and ticks under the Seresto, Advantage, Advantix, and Advocate brands; pet health therapeutics for pain, osteoarthritis, ear infections, cardiovascular, and dermatology indications in canines and felines under the Galliprant and Claro brands; vaccines, antibiotics, parasiticides, and other products for use in poultry and aquaculture production, as well as nutritional health products, including enzymes, probiotics, and prebiotics; and a range of vaccines, antibiotics, implants, parasiticides, and other products used in ruminant and swine production under the Rumensin and Baytril brands. The company sells its products to third-party distributors; veterinarians; and farm animal producers, including beef and dairy farmers, as well as pork, poultry, and aquaculture operations. Elanco Animal Health Incorporated was founded in 1954 and is headquartered in Greenfield, Indiana.

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.