EHC or ASTH: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

Zacks
08 Nov 2024

Investors interested in Medical - Outpatient and Home Healthcare stocks are likely familiar with Encompass Health (EHC) and Astrana Health, Inc. (ASTH). But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's take a closer look.

There are plenty of strategies for discovering value stocks, but we have found that pairing a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system produces the best returns. The proven Zacks Rank puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Currently, Encompass Health has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Astrana Health, Inc. has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that EHC likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than ASTH has recently. But this is only part of the picture for value investors.

Value investors analyze a variety of traditional, tried-and-true metrics to help find companies that they believe are undervalued at their current share price levels.

Our Value category highlights undervalued companies by looking at a variety of key metrics, including the popular P/E ratio, as well as the P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a variety of other fundamentals that have been used by value investors for years.

EHC currently has a forward P/E ratio of 23.88, while ASTH has a forward P/E of 45.47. We also note that EHC has a PEG ratio of 1.36. This popular figure is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also considers a company's expected EPS growth rate. ASTH currently has a PEG ratio of 2.27.

Another notable valuation metric for EHC is its P/B ratio of 3.85. The P/B ratio is used to compare a stock's market value with its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, ASTH has a P/B of 4.27.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to EHC's Value grade of A and ASTH's Value grade of C.

EHC sticks out from ASTH in both our Zacks Rank and Style Scores models, so value investors will likely feel that EHC is the better option right now.

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Encompass Health Corporation (EHC) : Free Stock Analysis Report

Astrana Health, Inc. (ASTH) : Free Stock Analysis Report

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Disclaimer: Investing carries risk. This is not financial advice. The above content should not be regarded as an offer, recommendation, or solicitation on acquiring or disposing of any financial products, any associated discussions, comments, or posts by author or other users should not be considered as such either. It is solely for general information purpose only, which does not consider your own investment objectives, financial situations or needs. TTM assumes no responsibility or warranty for the accuracy and completeness of the information, investors should do their own research and may seek professional advice before investing.

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