Analyzing Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) and BrightSpring Health Services (NASDAQ:BTSG)

BrightSpring Health Services (NASDAQ:BTSG) and Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) are both large-cap healthcare companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation and dividends.

Profitability

This table compares BrightSpring Health Services and Guardant Health’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
BrightSpring Health Services	2.55%	16.73%	5.24%
Guardant Health	-38.33%	N/A	-25.40%

Volatility and Risk

BrightSpring Health Services has a beta of 1.87, indicating that its stock price is 87% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Guardant Health has a beta of 1.58, indicating that its stock price is 58% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares BrightSpring Health Services and Guardant Health”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
BrightSpring Health Services	$12.91 billion	0.94	$190.67 million	$1.66	36.92
Guardant Health	$982.02 million	21.58	-$416.28 million	($3.49)	-45.24

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

92.6% of Guardant Health shares are held by institutional investors. 2.8% of BrightSpring Health Services shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.6% of Guardant Health shares are held 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.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for BrightSpring Health Services and Guardant Health, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
BrightSpring Health Services	0	2	17	1	2.95
Guardant Health	1	0	23	1	2.96

BrightSpring Health Services currently has a consensus price target of $70.71, suggesting a potential upside of 15.36%. Guardant Health has a consensus price target of $190.00, suggesting a potential upside of 20.34%. Given Guardant Health’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Guardant Health is more favorable than BrightSpring Health Services.

Summary

BrightSpring Health Services beats Guardant Health on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About BrightSpring Health Services

BrightSpring Health Services, Inc. operates a home and community-based healthcare services platform in the United States. The company's platform focuses on delivering pharmacy and provider services, including clinical and supportive care in home and community settings to Medicare, Medicaid, and insured populations. It serves patients through clinical providers and pharmacists. The company was formerly known as Phoenix Parent Holdings Inc. and changed its name to BrightSpring Health Services, Inc. in May 2021. BrightSpring Health Services, Inc. was founded in 1974 and is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky.

About Guardant Health

Guardant Health, Inc., a precision oncology company, provides blood and tissue tests, data sets, and analytics in the United States and internationally. The company provides Guardant360; Guardant360 LDT; Guardant360 CDx Test; Guardant360 Response Test; Guardant360 TissueNext Test; GuardantINFINITY Test; GuardantConnect, an integrated software-based solution designed for clinical and biopharmaceutical customers to connect patients tested with assays with actionable alterations with potentially relevant clinical studies; GuardantOMNI Test for advanced stage cancer; and GuardantINFORM, an in-silico research platform for tumor evolution and treatment resistance across various biomarker-driven cancers. It offers Shield Test; Guardant Reveal Test for adjuvant treatment selection in early-stage cancer patients; Smart Liquid Biopsy Platform; and Guardant Galaxy, an AI-backed digital pathology platform that helps improve cancer biomarker detection. In addition, the company offers development services, including companion diagnostic development and regulatory approval, clinical study setup, monitoring and maintenance, testing development and support, technologies licensing, and kits fulfillment. The company has a collaboration agreement with Illumina, Inc. for the sharing of specimen samples to advance cancer research. The company was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.