HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA – Get Free Report) and Fulgent Genetics (NASDAQ:FLGT – Get Free Report) are both healthcare companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings and profitability.
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares HCA Healthcare and Fulgent Genetics”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| HCA Healthcare | $75.60 billion | 1.22 | $6.78 billion | $29.87 | 14.31 |
| Fulgent Genetics | $322.67 million | 1.88 | -$60.51 million | ($2.82) | -7.81 |
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of recent ratings for HCA Healthcare and Fulgent Genetics, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| HCA Healthcare | 1 | 8 | 15 | 0 | 2.58 |
| Fulgent Genetics | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2.00 |
HCA Healthcare currently has a consensus target price of $463.70, indicating a potential upside of 8.52%. Fulgent Genetics has a consensus target price of $27.50, indicating a potential upside of 24.89%. Given Fulgent Genetics’ higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Fulgent Genetics is more favorable than HCA Healthcare.
Profitability
This table compares HCA Healthcare and Fulgent Genetics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| HCA Healthcare | 8.77% | -244.79% | 11.10% |
| Fulgent Genetics | -26.05% | -4.93% | -4.50% |
Institutional & Insider Ownership
62.7% of HCA Healthcare shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 48.1% of Fulgent Genetics shares are held by institutional investors. 1.5% of HCA Healthcare shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 36.2% of Fulgent Genetics shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Volatility & Risk
HCA Healthcare has a beta of 1.1, suggesting that its stock price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Fulgent Genetics has a beta of 0.93, suggesting that its stock price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
HCA Healthcare beats Fulgent Genetics on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About HCA Healthcare
HCA Healthcare, Inc., through its subsidiaries, owns and operates hospitals and related healthcare entities in the United States. It operates general and acute care hospitals that offers medical and surgical services, including inpatient care, intensive care, cardiac care, diagnostic, and emergency services; and outpatient services, such as outpatient surgery, laboratory, radiology, respiratory therapy, cardiology, and physical therapy. The company also operates outpatient health care facilities consisting of freestanding ambulatory surgery centers, freestanding emergency care facilities, urgent care facilities, walk-in clinics, diagnostic and imaging centers, rehabilitation and physical therapy centers, radiation and oncology therapy centers, physician practices, and various other facilities. In addition, it operates behavioral hospitals, which provide therapeutic programs comprising child, adolescent and adult psychiatric care, adolescent and adult alcohol, drug abuse treatment, and counseling services. The company was formerly known as HCA Holdings, Inc. HCA Healthcare, Inc. was founded in 1968 and is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee.
About Fulgent Genetics
Fulgent Genetics, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides clinical diagnostic and therapeutic development solutions to physicians and patients in the United States and internationally. The company’s clinical diagnostic solutions include molecular diagnostic testing; genetic testing; anatomic pathology laboratory tests and testing services, such as gastrointestinal pathology, dermatopathology, urologic pathology, breast pathology, neuropathology, and hematopathology; oncology tests and testing services; and sequencer services related to hereditary cancer, reproductive health, and other diseases. Its therapeutic development solutions focus on developing drug candidates for treating a range of cancers using a nanoencapsulation and targeted therapy platform to enhance the therapeutic window and pharmacokinetic profile of new and existing cancer drugs. The company operates picture genetics platform, which includes gene probes, data suppression and comparison algorithms, adaptive learning software, and proprietary laboratory information management systems that helps customers to identify health markers in their personal DNA. It serves insurance, hospitals, medical institutions, other laboratories, governmental bodies, payors, municipalities and large corporations, and patients. The company was formerly known as Fulgent Diagnostics, Inc. and changed its name to Fulgent Genetics, Inc. in August 2016. Fulgent Genetics, Inc. was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in El Monte, California.
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