Centene (CNC) Competitors

Centene (NYSE:CNC) and Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) are both large-cap medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, media sentiment, dividends, institutional ownership, community ranking and earnings.

Do analysts recommend CNC or ELV?

Centene currently has a consensus target price of $80.92, suggesting a potential upside of 35.82%. Elevance Health has a consensus target price of $539.20, suggesting a potential upside of 47.34%. Given Elevance Health's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Elevance Health is more favorable than Centene.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Centene	1 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.57
Elevance Health	1 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	12 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.81

Which has more risk and volatility, CNC or ELV?

Centene has a beta of 0.46, indicating that its share price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Elevance Health has a beta of 0.83, indicating that its share price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer CNC or ELV?

Centene received 186 more outperform votes than Elevance Health when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 73.41% of users gave Centene an outperform vote while only 67.21% of users gave Elevance Health an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Centene	Outperform Votes 1049 73.41%	Underperform Votes 380 26.59%
Elevance Health	Outperform Votes 863 67.21%	Underperform Votes 421 32.79%

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in CNC or ELV?

93.6% of Centene shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.2% of Elevance Health shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Centene shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Elevance Health shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media favor CNC or ELV?

In the previous week, Centene had 21 more articles in the media than Elevance Health. MarketBeat recorded 34 mentions for Centene and 13 mentions for Elevance Health. Centene's average media sentiment score of 0.57 beat Elevance Health's score of 0.32 indicating that Centene is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Centene	13 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	10 Neutral mention(s)	4 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Elevance Health	3 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Is CNC or ELV more profitable?

Elevance Health has a net margin of 3.68% compared to Centene's net margin of 1.90%. Elevance Health's return on equity of 19.56% beat Centene's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Centene	1.90%	13.32%	4.32%
Elevance Health	3.68%	19.56%	7.22%

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, CNC or ELV?

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

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Centene	$161.73B	0.19	$2.70B	$5.76	10.34
Elevance Health	$174.02B	0.49	$5.99B	$27.43	13.34

Summary

Elevance Health beats Centene on 14 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.