eHealth (NASDAQ:EHTH) and Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, risk and profitability.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for eHealth and Marsh & McLennan Companies, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score |
---|
eHealth | 0 | 4 | 8 | 0 | 2.67 |
Marsh & McLennan Companies | 2 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 2.20 |
eHealth currently has a consensus price target of $110.7692, indicating a potential upside of 57.90%. Marsh & McLennan Companies has a consensus price target of $118.3750, indicating a potential downside of 7.11%. Given eHealth's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe eHealth is more favorable than Marsh & McLennan Companies.
Volatility & Risk
eHealth has a beta of -0.31, indicating that its stock price is 131% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Marsh & McLennan Companies has a beta of 0.86, indicating that its stock price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Institutional & Insider Ownership
86.6% of Marsh & McLennan Companies shares are held by institutional investors. 5.0% of eHealth shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Marsh & McLennan Companies shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Profitability
This table compares eHealth and Marsh & McLennan Companies' net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets |
---|
eHealth | 12.59% | 11.13% | 8.95% |
Marsh & McLennan Companies | 11.91% | 31.20% | 7.96% |
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares eHealth and Marsh & McLennan Companies' top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio |
---|
eHealth | $506.20 million | 3.59 | $66.89 million | $3.50 | 20.04 |
Marsh & McLennan Companies | $16.65 billion | 3.89 | $1.74 billion | $4.66 | 27.35 |
Marsh & McLennan Companies has higher revenue and earnings than eHealth. eHealth is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Marsh & McLennan Companies, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Marsh & McLennan Companies beats eHealth on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.