Reviewing The Ensign Group (NASDAQ:ENSG) & Agilon Health (NYSE:AGL)

The Ensign Group (NASDAQ:ENSG) and Agilon Health (NYSE:AGL) are both healthcare companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and risk.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

96.1% of The Ensign Group shares are held by institutional investors. 4.0% of The Ensign Group shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.5% of Agilon Health shares are held by 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.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares The Ensign Group and Agilon Health”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
The Ensign Group	$5.06 billion	2.02	$343.97 million	$6.38	27.53
Agilon Health	$5.93 billion	0.25	-$391.35 million	($14.27)	-6.11

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for The Ensign Group and Agilon Health, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
The Ensign Group	0	2	4	0	2.67
Agilon Health	2	7	6	0	2.27

The Ensign Group currently has a consensus target price of $216.25, suggesting a potential upside of 23.12%. Agilon Health has a consensus target price of $102.25, suggesting a potential upside of 17.35%. Given The Ensign Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe The Ensign Group is more favorable than Agilon Health.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
The Ensign Group	6.90%	16.75%	6.97%
Agilon Health	-3.92%	-119.38%	-16.85%

Volatility & Risk

The Ensign Group has a beta of 0.66, indicating that its stock price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Agilon Health has a beta of 2.98, indicating that its stock price is 198% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

The Ensign Group beats Agilon Health on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About The Ensign Group

The Ensign Group, Inc. provides skilled nursing, senior living, and rehabilitative services. It operates through two segments: Skilled Services and Standard Bearer. The company's Skilled Services segment engages in the operation of skilled nursing facilities and rehabilitation therapy services for patients with chronic conditions, prolonged illness, and the elderly; and offers nursing facilities including specialty care, such as on-site dialysis, ventilator care, cardiac, and pulmonary management, as well as standard services comprising room and board, special nutritional programs, social services, recreational activities, entertainment, and other services. Its Standard Bearer segment is comprised of selected real estate properties owned by Standard Bearer and leased to skilled nursing and senior living operators. In addition, the company provides ancillary services consisting of digital x-ray, ultrasound, electrocardiograms, sub-acute services, dialysis, respiratory, and long-term care pharmacy and patient transportation to people in their homes or at long-term care facilities, as well as mobile diagnostics. It operates in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Nevada, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin. The company was incorporated in 1999 and is based in San Juan Capistrano, California.

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.