Critical Review: U.S. Physical Therapy (NYSE:USPH) & Astrana Health (NASDAQ:ASTH)

Astrana Health (NASDAQ:ASTH) and U.S. Physical Therapy (NYSE:USPH) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, earnings, institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Volatility & Risk

Astrana Health has a beta of 0.85, meaning that its share price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, U.S. Physical Therapy has a beta of 1.45, meaning that its share price is 45% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Astrana Health and U.S. Physical Therapy, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Astrana Health	0	3	6	0	2.67
U.S. Physical Therapy	0	2	4	1	2.86

Astrana Health currently has a consensus price target of $53.2857, suggesting a potential upside of 73.68%. U.S. Physical Therapy has a consensus price target of $110.25, suggesting a potential upside of 25.98%. Given Astrana Health’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Astrana Health is more favorable than U.S. Physical Therapy.

Profitability

This table compares Astrana Health and U.S. Physical Therapy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Astrana Health	1.04%	3.43%	1.87%
U.S. Physical Therapy	5.05%	8.78%	3.81%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

52.8% of Astrana Health shares are held by institutional investors. 20.0% of Astrana Health shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.0% of U.S. Physical Therapy 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.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Astrana Health and U.S. Physical Therapy”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Astrana Health	$2.42 billion	0.71	$43.15 million	$0.51	60.16
U.S. Physical Therapy	$671.34 million	1.98	$31.42 million	$2.29	38.22

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

Summary

U.S. Physical Therapy beats Astrana Health on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Astrana Health

Astrana Health, Inc., Inc., a physician-centric technology-powered healthcare management company, provides medical care services in the United States. It operates through three segments: Care Partners, Care Delivery, and Care Enablement. The company is leveraging its proprietary population health management and healthcare delivery platform, operates an integrated, value-based healthcare model which empowers the providers in its network to deliver care to its patients. It offers care coordination services to patients, families, primary care physicians, specialists, acute care hospitals, alternative sites of inpatient care, physician groups, and health plans. The company's physician network consists of primary care physicians, specialist physicians and extenders, and hospitalists. It serves patients, primarily covered by private or public insurance, such as Medicare, Medicaid, and health maintenance organization plans; and non-insured patients. The company was formerly known as Apollo Medical Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to Astrana Health, Inc. in February 2024. Astrana Health, Inc. was incorporated in 1985 and is headquartered in Alhambra, California.

About U.S. Physical Therapy

U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. operates outpatient physical therapy clinics. The company operates through Physical Therapy Operations and Industrial Injury Prevention Services segments. The company provides pre-and post-operative care and treatment for orthopedic-related disorders, sports-related injuries, preventative care, rehabilitation of injured workers, and neurological-related injuries. It offers industrial injury prevention services, including onsite injury prevention and rehabilitation, performance optimization, post-offer employment testing, functional capacity evaluations, and ergonomic assessments through physical therapists and specialized certified athletic trainers for Fortune 500 companies, and other clients comprising insurers and their contractors. U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. was founded in 1990 and is based in Houston, Texas.