Critical Contrast: Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE:BAH) versus Astrana Health (NASDAQ:ASTH)

Astrana Health (NASDAQ:ASTH) and Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE:BAH) are both medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, risk and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares Astrana Health and Booz Allen Hamilton’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Astrana Health	4.29%	10.22%	5.86%
Booz Allen Hamilton	5.57%	65.80%	10.51%

Volatility and Risk

Astrana Health has a beta of 1.16, meaning that its share price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Booz Allen Hamilton has a beta of 0.57, meaning that its share price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

52.8% of Astrana Health shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.8% of Booz Allen Hamilton shares are held by institutional investors. 8.5% of Astrana Health shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.6% of Booz Allen Hamilton shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Astrana Health and Booz Allen Hamilton, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Astrana Health	0	0	4	1	3.20
Booz Allen Hamilton	1	2	7	0	2.60

Astrana Health currently has a consensus target price of $59.00, indicating a potential upside of 23.69%. Booz Allen Hamilton has a consensus target price of $156.56, indicating a potential upside of 5.75%. Given Astrana Health’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Astrana Health is more favorable than Booz Allen Hamilton.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Astrana Health and Booz Allen Hamilton’s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Astrana Health	$1.59 billion	1.68	$60.72 million	$1.32	36.14
Booz Allen Hamilton	$10.95 billion	1.75	$605.71 million	$4.60	32.18

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

Summary

Booz Allen Hamilton beats Astrana Health on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Astrana Health

Astrana Health, Inc., Inc., a physician-centric technology-powered healthcare management company, provides medical care services in the United States. It operates through three segments: Care Partners, Care Delivery, and Care Enablement. The company is leveraging its proprietary population health management and healthcare delivery platform, operates an integrated, value-based healthcare model which empowers the providers in its network to deliver care to its patients. It offers care coordination services to patients, families, primary care physicians, specialists, acute care hospitals, alternative sites of inpatient care, physician groups, and health plans. The company's physician network consists of primary care physicians, specialist physicians and extenders, and hospitalists. It serves patients, primarily covered by private or public insurance, such as Medicare, Medicaid, and health maintenance organization plans; and non-insured patients. The company was formerly known as Apollo Medical Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to Astrana Health, Inc. in February 2024. Astrana Health, Inc. was incorporated in 1985 and is headquartered in Alhambra, California.

About Booz Allen Hamilton

Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation provides management and technology consulting, analytics, engineering, digital solutions, mission operations, and cyber services to governments, corporations, and not-for-profit organizations in the United States and internationally. It focuses on artificial intelligence services comprising of machine learning, predictive modeling, automation and decision analytics, and quantum computing. The company offers artificial intelligence, machine learning, and computer network related operations. In addition, it provides data science, engineering, visualization, and analysis related capabilities. Further, the company engages in user experience, user interface, graphic and web design, design thinking, sketching, and digital product design capabilities. Additionally, it architects and engineers help accelerate, scale, secure, and transform mission and business outcomes using the technologies and partner offering; offers software engineering in agile practices, DevSecOps, automation and Cloud, and Low/No Code Platform engineering; systems and digital engineering; and tech strategy and product management. Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation was founded in 1914 and is headquartered in McLean, Virginia.