Head-To-Head Analysis: UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) vs. U.S. Physical Therapy (NYSE:USPH)

U.S. Physical Therapy (NYSE:USPH) and UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) are both healthcare companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for U.S. Physical Therapy and UnitedHealth Group, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
U.S. Physical Therapy	0	2	4	1	2.86
UnitedHealth Group	0	8	20	0	2.71

U.S. Physical Therapy currently has a consensus target price of $98.25, indicating a potential upside of 15.65%. UnitedHealth Group has a consensus target price of $463.93, indicating a potential upside of 15.09%. Given U.S. Physical Therapy’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe U.S. Physical Therapy is more favorable than UnitedHealth Group.

Earnings & Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
U.S. Physical Therapy	$780.99 million	1.62	$39.58 million	$0.17	499.74
UnitedHealth Group	$447.57 billion	0.81	$12.06 billion	$17.51	23.02

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

87.9% of UnitedHealth Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.4% of U.S. Physical Therapy shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of UnitedHealth Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

U.S. Physical Therapy pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. UnitedHealth Group pays an annual dividend of $9.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. U.S. Physical Therapy pays out 1,082.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. UnitedHealth Group pays out 53.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. U.S. Physical Therapy has increased its dividend for 6 consecutive years and UnitedHealth Group has increased its dividend for 15 consecutive years. UnitedHealth Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Volatility and Risk

U.S. Physical Therapy has a beta of 1.16, suggesting that its stock price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, UnitedHealth Group has a beta of 0.51, suggesting that its stock price is 49% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
U.S. Physical Therapy	3.97%	9.39%	3.65%
UnitedHealth Group	3.53%	17.95%	5.95%

Summary

UnitedHealth Group beats U.S. Physical Therapy on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About UnitedHealth Group

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated operates as a diversified health care company in the United States. The company operates through four segments: UnitedHealthcare, Optum Health, Optum Insight, and Optum Rx. The UnitedHealthcare segment offers consumer-oriented health benefit plans and services for national employers, public sector employers, mid-sized employers, small businesses, and individuals; health care coverage, and health and well-being services to individuals age 50 and older addressing their needs; Medicaid plans, children's health insurance and health care programs; and health and dental benefits, and hospital and clinical services, as well as health care benefits products and services to state programs caring for the economically disadvantaged, medically underserved, and those without the benefit of employer-funded health care coverage. The Optum Health segment provides care delivery, care management, wellness and consumer engagement, and health financial services patients, consumers, care delivery systems, providers, employers, payers, and public-sector entities. The Optum Insight segment offers software and information products, advisory consulting arrangements, and managed services outsourcing contracts to hospital systems, physicians, health plans, governments, life sciences companies, and other organizations. The Optum Rx segment provides pharmacy care services and programs, including retail network contracting, home delivery, specialty and community health pharmacy services, infusion, and purchasing and clinical capabilities, as well as develops programs in the areas of step therapy, formulary management, drug adherence, and disease/drug therapy management. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated was founded in 1974 and is based in Minnetonka, Minnesota.