Head to Head Contrast: Labcorp (NYSE:LH) & Agilon Health (NYSE:AGL)

Labcorp (NYSE:LH) and Agilon Health (NYSE:AGL) are both healthcare companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, earnings and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares Labcorp and Agilon Health’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Labcorp	6.99%	16.74%	7.81%
Agilon Health	-3.92%	-119.38%	-16.85%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Labcorp and Agilon Health, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Labcorp	0	3	9	0	2.75
Agilon Health	2	8	5	0	2.20

Labcorp currently has a consensus price target of $330.00, suggesting a potential upside of 2.80%. Agilon Health has a consensus price target of $84.82, suggesting a potential downside of 12.77%. Given Labcorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Labcorp is more favorable than Agilon Health.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

95.9% of Labcorp shares are held by institutional investors. 0.8% of Labcorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.5% of Agilon Health shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Labcorp and Agilon Health”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Labcorp	$13.95 billion	1.87	$876.50 million	$12.09	26.55
Agilon Health	$5.93 billion	0.28	-$391.35 million	($14.27)	-6.81

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

Risk and Volatility

Labcorp has a beta of 0.87, indicating that its stock price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Agilon Health has a beta of 3.01, indicating that its stock price is 201% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Labcorp beats Agilon Health on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Labcorp

Labcorp Holdings, Inc. engages in providing medical testing services. The company was founded on April 16, 2024 and is headquartered in Burlington, NC.

About Agilon Health

agilon health, inc. provides healthcare services for seniors through primary care physicians in the communities of the United States. It offers a platform that manages the total healthcare needs of the patients by subscription-like per-member per-month. The company was formerly known as Agilon Health Topco, Inc. and changed its name to agilon health, inc. in March 2021. agilon health, inc. was founded in 2016 and is based in Austin, Texas.