Humana (HUM) Competitors

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

Is HUM or ELV more profitable?

Elevance Health has a net margin of 3.38% compared to Humana's net margin of 1.02%. Elevance Health's return on equity of 18.28% beat Humana's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Humana	1.02%	11.70%	3.99%
Elevance Health	3.38%	18.28%	6.72%

Which has more volatility and risk, HUM or ELV?

Humana has a beta of 0.57, suggesting that its stock price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Elevance Health has a beta of 0.86, suggesting that its stock price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor HUM or ELV?

In the previous week, Elevance Health had 23 more articles in the media than Humana. MarketBeat recorded 46 mentions for Elevance Health and 23 mentions for Humana. Elevance Health's average media sentiment score of 1.62 beat Humana's score of 1.32 indicating that Elevance Health is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Humana	19 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Elevance Health	43 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Which has higher valuation and earnings, HUM or ELV?

Elevance Health has higher revenue and earnings than Humana. Elevance Health is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Humana, 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
Humana	$117.76B	0.28	$1.21B	$9.95	27.16
Elevance Health	$176.81B	0.55	$5.98B	$25.61	16.74

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer HUM or ELV?

Humana received 23 more outperform votes than Elevance Health when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 67.18% of users gave Elevance Health an outperform vote while only 62.68% of users gave Humana an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Humana	Outperform Votes 895 62.68%	Underperform Votes 533 37.32%
Elevance Health	Outperform Votes 872 67.18%	Underperform Votes 426 32.82%

Do insiders & institutionals believe in HUM or ELV?

92.4% of Humana shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.2% of Elevance Health shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of Humana shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Elevance Health shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts prefer HUM or ELV?

Humana presently has a consensus price target of $285.68, suggesting a potential upside of 5.70%. Elevance Health has a consensus price target of $519.81, suggesting a potential upside of 21.25%. Given Elevance Health's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Elevance Health is more favorable than Humana.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Humana	0 Sell rating(s)	17 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.23
Elevance Health	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	13 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.94

Is HUM or ELV a better dividend stock?

Humana pays an annual dividend of $3.54 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Elevance Health pays an annual dividend of $6.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Humana pays out 35.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Elevance Health pays out 26.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Elevance Health has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years. Elevance Health is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

Elevance Health beats Humana on 18 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.