HCA vs UNH Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
Compare HCA's hospital and outpatient facility network against UnitedHealth's insurance, pharmacy benefit, and Optum businesses.
Use this HCA Healthcare vs UnitedHealth Group comparison to evaluate the key differences across valuation, growth, profitability, and risk before making an investment decision.
UNH holds the edge across 3 of 5 key metrics in this comparison. UNH has delivered stronger 1-year price return (+28.99% vs -0.64%), though HCA has the better forward P/E setup (13.01x vs 17.70x for UNH). HCA leads on both revenue growth (8.70%) and operating margin (15.16%), suggesting a stronger fundamental setup on both dimensions. Analyst consensus implies meaningfully more upside for UNH (+19.66%) than for HCA (+8.06%).
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 | UNH |
|---|---|---|
| AI scorei | 52.6 | 53.1 |
| AI ranki | #368 | #349 |
| Latest closei | $405.00 | $397.14 |
| 1M returni | -1.13% | -3.78% |
| 6M returni | -24.22% | +37.53% |
| 1Y returni | -0.64% | +28.99% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | HCA | UNH |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $9.84K (-1.6%) started 2025-09-04 | $12.8K (+28.0%) started 2025-09-04 |
| 5Y ago | $17.17K (+71.7%) started 2021-09-07 | $10.52K (+5.2%) started 2021-09-07 |
| 10Y ago | $61.04K (+510.4%) started 2016-09-06 | $38.31K (+283.1%) started 2016-09-06 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | HCA | UNH |
|---|---|---|
| Market capi | $90.46B | $356.47B |
| Trailing P/Ei | 14.01 | 25.51 |
| Forward P/Ei | 13.01 | 17.70 |
| Price/Salesi | N/A | 0.67 |
| EV/Revenuei | 1.85 | 0.90 |
| Analyst targeti | $451.48 | $475.23 |
| Target upsidei | +8.06% | +19.66% |
| Metric | HCA | UNH |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growthi | 8.70% | 0.40% |
| Earnings growthi | 11.60% | 61.50% |
| EPS growthi | +11.60% | +61.50% |
| FCF margini | +4.79% | +5.39% |
| Operating margini | 15.16% | 7.13% |
| Profit margini | 8.77% | 3.14% |
| ROIC proxyi | 13631.68% | 14.15% |
| Return on equityi | 13631.68% | 14.15% |
| Dividend yieldi | 0.75% | 2.34% |
| Betai | 1.11 | 0.62 |
| Debt/equityi | N/A | 69.21 |
| Current ratioi | 0.99 | 0.78 |
| Quick ratioi | 0.78 | 0.69 |
Over the past year, HCA and UNH have moved barely in opposite directions (correlation of -0.01), 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 | UNH |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growthi | -1.60% | +27.95% |
| CAGRi | -1.60% | +28.00% | |
| Volatilityi | 30.70% | 35.43% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | -0.05 | 0.75 | |
| Sortino ratioi | -0.06 | 1.03 | |
| Max drawdowni | 33.72% | 29.98% | |
| Current drawdowni | 25.71% | 8.99% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 12.59% | 9.23% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 16.81% | 12.46% | |
| Max daily dropi | 8.77% | 19.61% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 14.06% | 19.46% | |
| 5Y | Growthi | +66.06% | -0.47% |
| CAGRi | +10.69% | -0.09% | |
| Volatilityi | 29.99% | 32.10% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.34 | 0.02 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.47 | 0.03 | |
| Max drawdowni | 39.49% | 61.66% | |
| Current drawdowni | 25.71% | 35.97% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 11.56% | 17.88% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 15.19% | 25.37% | |
| Max daily dropi | 21.82% | 22.38% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 22.87% | 29.05% | |
| 10Y | Growthi | +469.17% | +233.13% |
| CAGRi | +19.01% | +12.80% | |
| Volatilityi | 32.97% | 30.36% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.56 | 0.40 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.80 | 0.55 | |
| Max drawdowni | 54.74% | 61.66% | |
| Current drawdowni | 25.71% | 35.97% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 9.95% | 11.53% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 13.80% | 18.77% | |
| Max daily dropi | 21.82% | 22.38% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 39.49% | 29.05% |
| Category | HCA | UNH |
|---|---|---|
| Company | HCA | UNH |
| 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. | UnitedHealth Group Incorporated operates as a health care company in the United States and internationally. |
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