Reviewing Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) and AMN Healthcare Services (NYSE:AMN)

AMN Healthcare Services (NYSE:AMN) and Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) are both healthcare companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends and profitability.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

99.2% of AMN Healthcare Services shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.2% of Elevance Health shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.1% of AMN Healthcare Services shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Elevance Health shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares AMN Healthcare Services and Elevance Health”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
AMN Healthcare Services	$2.73 billion	0.48	-$95.70 million	$2.68	12.60
Elevance Health	$199.12 billion	0.44	$5.66 billion	$22.50	17.87

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

Risk & Volatility

AMN Healthcare Services has a beta of 0.38, meaning that its stock price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Elevance Health has a beta of 0.69, meaning that its stock price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for AMN Healthcare Services and Elevance Health, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AMN Healthcare Services	2	3	4	0	2.22
Elevance Health	0	8	15	0	2.65

AMN Healthcare Services currently has a consensus target price of $31.43, indicating a potential downside of 6.91%. Elevance Health has a consensus target price of $440.90, indicating a potential upside of 9.67%. Given Elevance Health’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Elevance Health is more favorable than AMN Healthcare Services.

Profitability

This table compares AMN Healthcare Services and Elevance Health’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AMN Healthcare Services	3.06%	19.92%	5.93%
Elevance Health	2.47%	14.64%	5.22%

Summary

Elevance Health beats AMN Healthcare Services on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About AMN Healthcare Services

AMN Healthcare Services, Inc. provides healthcare workforce solutions and staffing services to healthcare facilities in the United States. It operates through three segments: Nurse and Allied Solutions, Physician and Leadership Solutions, and Technology and Workforce Solutions. The Nurse and Allied Solutions segment offers travel nurse staffing, labor disruption staffing, local staffing, international nurse and allied permanent placement, and allied staffing solutions. The Physician and Leadership Solutions segment provides locum tenens staffing, healthcare interim leadership staffing, executive search, and physician permanent placement solutions. The Technology and Workforce Solutions segment offers language services, vendor management systems, workforce optimization, and outsourced solutions. The company also provides allied health professionals, such as physical therapists, respiratory therapists, occupational therapists, medical and radiology technologists, lab technicians, speech pathologists, rehabilitation assistants, and pharmacists. It offers its services under the brands, including AMN Healthcare, Nursefinders, HealthSource Global Staffing, O'Grady Peyton International, Connetics, Medical Search International, DRW Healthcare Staffing, and B.E. Smith. AMN Healthcare Services, Inc. was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.

About Elevance Health

Elevance Health, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a health benefits company in the United States. The company operates through four segments: Health Benefits, CarelonRx, Carelon Services, and Corporate & Other. It offers a variety of health plans and services to program members; health products; an array of fee-based administrative managed care services; and specialty and other insurance products and services, such as stop loss, dental, vision, life, disability, and supplemental health insurance benefits. The company operates in the pharmacy services business; and markets and offers pharmacy services, including pharmacy benefit management, as well as home delivery and specialty pharmacies, claims adjudication, formulary management, pharmacy networks, rebate administration, a prescription drug database, and member services. In addition, it provides healthcare-related services and capabilities, including utilization management, behavioral health, integrated care delivery, palliative care, payment integrity services, subrogation services, and health and wellness programs, as well as services related to data management, information technology, and business operations. Further, the company is involved in the National Government Services business. The company provides its services under the Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Wellpoint, and Carelon brand names. The company was formerly known as Anthem, Inc. and changed its name to Elevance Health, Inc. in June 2022. Elevance Health, Inc. was incorporated in 2001 and is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana.