Critical Contrast: NeueHealth (NYSE:NEUE) vs. Alignment Healthcare (NASDAQ:ALHC)

Alignment Healthcare (NASDAQ:ALHC) and NeueHealth (NYSE:NEUE) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends and risk.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Alignment Healthcare and NeueHealth’s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Alignment Healthcare	$1.82 billion	0.49	-$148.02 million	($0.79)	-5.94
NeueHealth	$1.16 billion	0.04	-$1.15 billion	($151.20)	-0.04

Alignment Healthcare has higher revenue and earnings than NeueHealth. Alignment Healthcare is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than NeueHealth, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Alignment Healthcare and NeueHealth’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Alignment Healthcare	-8.12%	-75.64%	-20.36%
NeueHealth	-71.23%	N/A	-1.21%

Risk & Volatility

Alignment Healthcare has a beta of 1.3, suggesting that its share price is 30% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NeueHealth has a beta of 0.85, suggesting that its share price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

86.2% of Alignment Healthcare shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 63.9% of NeueHealth shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.3% of Alignment Healthcare shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 64.3% of NeueHealth shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Alignment Healthcare and NeueHealth, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Alignment Healthcare	1	4	4	1	2.50
NeueHealth	0	1	0	0	2.00

Alignment Healthcare presently has a consensus price target of $9.61, suggesting a potential upside of 104.98%. NeueHealth has a consensus price target of $8.00, suggesting a potential upside of 42.86%. Given Alignment Healthcare’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Alignment Healthcare is more favorable than NeueHealth.

Summary

Alignment Healthcare beats NeueHealth on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Alignment Healthcare

Alignment Healthcare, Inc., a tech-enabled Medicare advantage company, operates consumer-centric health care platform for seniors in the United States. It provides customized health care designed to meet the needs of a diverse array of seniors through its Medicare advantage plans. The company was founded in 2013 and is based in Orange, California.

About NeueHealth

NeueHealth, Inc., a healthcare company, provides health insurance policies in the United States. It operates in two segments, Bright HealthCare and Consumer Care. The Consumer Care segment delivers virtual and in-person clinical care services contracts through primary care clinics. It operates managed and affiliated risk-bearing clinics within its integrated care delivery system, which included embedded pharmacy, laboratory, radiology, and population health focused specialty services. The Bright HealthCare segment offers medicare health plan products to consumers. The company was formerly known as Bright Health Group, Inc. and changed its name to NeueHealth, Inc. in January 2024. NeueHealth, Inc. was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.