HCA vs HUM Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
Compare HCA's provider-side hospital network against Humana's payer-side Medicare Advantage insurance business.
Use this HCA Healthcare vs Humana comparison to evaluate the key differences across valuation, growth, profitability, and risk before making an investment decision.
HCA holds the edge across 3 of 5 key metrics in this comparison. HUM has delivered stronger 1-year price return (+28.71% vs -0.64%), though HCA has the better forward P/E setup (13.01x vs 23.27x for HUM). On fundamentals, HUM is growing revenue faster (26.20%), while HCA maintains the higher operating margin (15.16%) — a classic growth-versus-profitability split. Analyst consensus implies similar upside for both: +8.06% for HCA and +8.58% for HUM.
Human Wall Street analysts' price targets, typically implying a ~12-month view — a separate signal from this site's own AI Prediction Signal further down the page, which is a 5-/30-day machine-learning forecast based on price history alone.
| Metric | HCA | HUM |
|---|---|---|
| AI scorei | 52.6 | 41.9 |
| AI ranki | #368 | #956 |
| Latest closei | $405.00 | $401.54 |
| 1M returni | -1.13% | +10.37% |
| 6M returni | -24.22% | +122.15% |
| 1Y returni | -0.64% | +28.71% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | HCA | HUM |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $9.84K (-1.6%) started 2025-09-04 | $12.87K (+28.7%) started 2025-09-04 |
| 5Y ago | $17.17K (+71.7%) started 2021-09-07 | $10.35K (+3.5%) started 2021-09-07 |
| 10Y ago | $61.04K (+510.4%) started 2016-09-06 | $26K (+160.0%) started 2016-09-06 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | HCA | HUM |
|---|---|---|
| Market capi | $90.46B | $46.3B |
| Trailing P/Ei | 14.01 | 36.51 |
| Forward P/Ei | 13.01 | 23.27 |
| Price/Salesi | N/A | N/A |
| EV/Revenuei | 1.85 | 0.26 |
| Analyst targeti | $451.48 | $418.61 |
| Target upsidei | +8.06% | +8.58% |
| Metric | HCA | HUM |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growthi | 8.70% | 26.20% |
| Earnings growthi | 11.60% | 27.10% |
| EPS growthi | +11.60% | +27.10% |
| FCF margini | +4.79% | +1.33% |
| Operating margini | 15.16% | 3.46% |
| Profit margini | 8.77% | 0.88% |
| ROIC proxyi | 13631.68% | 6.89% |
| Return on equityi | 13631.68% | 6.89% |
| Dividend yieldi | 0.75% | 0.92% |
| Betai | 1.11 | 0.74 |
| Debt/equityi | N/A | 76.48 |
| Current ratioi | 0.99 | 1.74 |
| Quick ratioi | 0.78 | 1.28 |
Over the past year, HCA and HUM have moved barely in opposite directions (correlation of -0.03), based on daily returns.
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
| Period | Metric | HCA | HUM |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growthi | -1.60% | +28.70% |
| CAGRi | -1.60% | +28.75% | |
| Volatilityi | 30.70% | 48.58% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | -0.05 | 0.68 | |
| Sortino ratioi | -0.06 | 0.92 | |
| Max drawdowni | 33.72% | 47.54% | |
| Current drawdowni | 25.71% | 1.92% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 12.59% | 17.84% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 16.81% | 23.10% | |
| Max daily dropi | 8.77% | 21.13% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 14.06% | 28.99% | |
| 5Y | Growthi | +66.06% | +0.21% |
| CAGRi | +10.69% | +0.04% | |
| Volatilityi | 29.99% | 37.97% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.34 | 0.08 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.47 | 0.10 | |
| Max drawdowni | 39.49% | 70.23% | |
| Current drawdowni | 25.71% | 26.97% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 11.56% | 28.77% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 15.19% | 35.81% | |
| Max daily dropi | 21.82% | 21.13% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 22.87% | 28.99% | |
| 10Y | Growthi | +469.17% | +142.79% |
| CAGRi | +19.01% | +9.28% | |
| Volatilityi | 32.97% | 34.60% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.56 | 0.30 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.80 | 0.42 | |
| Max drawdowni | 54.74% | 70.23% | |
| Current drawdowni | 25.71% | 26.97% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 9.95% | 18.51% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 13.80% | 26.63% | |
| Max daily dropi | 21.82% | 21.13% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 39.49% | 28.99% |
| Category | HCA | HUM |
|---|---|---|
| Company | HCA | HUM |
| Sector | Healthcare | Healthcare |
| Industry | Medical Care Facilities | Healthcare Plans |
| Core business | HCA Healthcare, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides health care services in the United States. | Humana Inc. provides medical and specialty insurance products in the United States. |
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