ACHC vs NHC vs CYH Stock Comparison

Acadia Healthcare Company, National Healthcare and Community Health Systems Prices as of Oct 28, 2026 Peers: Industry group
NHC National Healthcare Corp
$211.34 -6.6% 1M +73.2% 1Y
Market cap
$3.33B
P/E
23.7x
Revenue (TTM)
$1.56B
Div. yield
0.01%
Home Health and Senior Care Healthcare
8 wins

Head to Head

9 decided of 12

National Healthcare leads on 8 of the 12 questions below (National Healthcare 8, Community Health Systems 1). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionACHCNHCCYHLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $2.65B $3.33B $323.16M NHC
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only -2.4x 23.7x 4.7x CYH
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 18.8x — — –
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +4.3% +6.9% -7.8% NHC
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months -33.4% 9.0% — NHC
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital -24.7% 10.0% — NHC
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA -2.5x — — –
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.01% 0.00% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +27.4% +73.2% -35.7% NHC
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years -13.8%/yr +24.8%/yr -27.4%/yr NHC
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 64.4% 34.7% 50.3% NHC
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 26/100 79/100 45/100 NHC

Percentile Scorecard

ACHCNHCCYH

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisACHCNHCCYH
Valuation 50 #47 of 92 77 #22 of 92 96 #5 of 92
Growth 6 #82 of 87 80 #18 of 87 21 #69 of 87
Profitability 17 #72 of 86 81 #17 of 86 48 #45 of 86
Financial Health 30 #68 of 97 88 #13 of 97 16 #82 of 97
Shareholder Returns – 67 #19 of 55 –
Overall 26 79 45
  • ACHC ranked among 102 companies in Healthcare Providers
  • NHC ranked among 102 companies in Healthcare Providers
  • CYH ranked among 102 companies in Healthcare Providers

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodACHCNHCCYHSPY
1 month +5.7%-6.6%-8.3% +0.9%
3 months +7.9%-7.7%-2.2% +5.9%
6 months +4.4%+20.7%-7.7% +8.5%
Year to date +108.0%+54.2%-15.1% +13.3%
1 year +27.4%+73.2%-35.7% +12.4%
3 years -59.0%+219.7%+26.8% +88.1%
3 years, per year -25.7%+47.4%+8.2% +23.5%
5 years -52.4%+202.2%-79.8% +68.2%
5 years, per year -13.8%+24.8%-27.4% +11.0%
10 years -19.9%+226.5%-49.3% +263.4%
10 years, per year -2.2%+12.6%-6.6% +13.8%

Risk

MeasureACHCNHCCYHSPY
Volatility, 1Y 64.4%34.7%50.3% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 64.7%32.2%55.5% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 0.950.130.95 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 0.432.11-0.71 0.98
Max drawdown, 5Y -86.9%-34.4%-86.3% -25.4%
From 52-week high -17.1%-14.5%-37.1% -0.9%
52-week high $35.61$247.31$4.21 $779.14
52-week low $11.68$119.44$2.49 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleACHCNHCCYH
P/E now vs peer median -2.4xmedian 25.6x 23.5xmedian 25.6x 5.2xmedian 25.6x
P/S now vs peer median 0.8xmedian 1.6x 2.1xmedian 1.6x 0.0xmedian 1.6x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median -5.5xmedian 16.3x 16.3xmedian 16.3x —median 16.3x
P/FCF now vs peer median -20.0xmedian 21.3x 22.6xmedian 21.3x -2.2xmedian 21.3x
P/B now vs peer median 1.4xmedian 3.3x 2.9xmedian 3.3x -0.3xmedian 3.3x
PEG now vs peer median 0.03median 0.68 0.38median 0.68 -0.12median 0.68

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsACHCNHCCYH
Revenue $3.37B $1.56B $11.65B
Operating income – $144.68M $1.23B
Net income -$1.12B $142.84M $188.00M
Free cash flow -$134.03M $146.53M –
EPS (diluted) $-12.33 $8.84 $0.51
Cash & equivalents $171.29M $39.21M $155.00M
Total debt $2.41B – –
Shares (diluted) 91.37M 15.86M 136.51M
Enterprise value $2.07B $2.31B $323.16M

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricACHCNHCCYH
P/E -2.4x 23.5x 5.2x
P/FCF -20.0x 22.6x -2.2x
P/Operating cash flow 12.7x 17.5x 1.8x
P/S 0.8x 2.1x 0.0x
P/B 1.4x 2.9x -0.3x
P/Tangible book 1.4x 3.0x -0.3x
EV/EBITDA -5.5x 16.3x –
EV/EBIT -4.5x 21.4x –
EV/Revenue 1.5x 2.0x 0.0x
EV/FCF -36.7x 21.2x –
EV/Operating cash flow 23.4x 16.4x 1.8x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 0.03 0.38 -0.12

Growth

14 metrics
MetricACHCNHCCYH
Revenue growth (1Y) 4.3% 6.9% -7.8%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 6.6% 12.8% 66.5%
Gross profit growth (1Y) – – –
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) – – –
Operating income growth (1Y) – 24.1% 48.3%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) – 57.4% –
Net income growth (1Y) -838.8% 35.9% -61.5%
Net income CAGR (3Y) -82.3% 68.9% -20.6%
EPS growth (1Y) -900.5% 31.6% -81.4%
EPS CAGR (3Y) -83.4% 61.9% -42.4%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) -50.4% 26.7% -57.2%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) -16.6% 44.1% 17.8%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 56.9% 23.2% –
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) -73.4% 58.0% –

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricACHCNHCCYH
Gross margin – – –
EBITDA margin -26.6% 12.2% –
Operating margin – 9.3% –
Pretax margin -32.6% 11.9% –
Net margin -33.4% 9.0% –
FCF margin -4.0% 9.4% –
Operating cash flow margin 6.3% 12.1% 1.8%
Return on equity -57.0% 12.8% –
Return on assets -20.2% 9.3% 1.6%
Return on invested capital -24.7% 10.0% –
Return on capital employed -21.9% 11.2% –
Asset turnover 0.6x 1.0x 1.0x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) -0.2x 1.3x 1.1x
Stock comp / revenue 0.9% 0.3% 0.1%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricACHCNHCCYH
Debt / assets 43.5% – –
Debt / equity 1.2x – –
Net debt / EBITDA -2.5x – –
Debt / FCF -18.0x – –
Liabilities / assets 64.3% 26.6% 107.7%
Equity / assets 35.7% 73.4% -12.3%
Interest coverage – 56.6x –
Current ratio 1.6x 1.9x 1.5x
Quick ratio 1.2x 1.5x –
Cash ratio 0.3x 0.9x –
Altman Z-score 0.28 7.15 –

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricACHCNHCCYH
Dividend yield – 1.2% –
Net buyback yield – 0.1% –
Shareholder yield – 1.4% 0.0%
Payout ratio (earnings) – 27.8% –
Payout ratio (FCF) – 27.1% –
Dividend growth (1Y) – 5.6% –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – 4.3% –

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusACHCNHCCYH
Forward P/E 18.8xFY2026 – –
EPS, next fiscal year $1.57FY2026 – $-1.16FY2026
EPS growth, next FY -21.5%FY2026 – -197.5%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +22.3% – –
Revenue, next fiscal year $3.53BFY2026 – –
Revenue growth, next FY +6.5%FY2026 – –
Revenue growth, the year after +6.9% – –

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersACHCNHCCYH
Held by institutions 100.0% 65.3% 82.1%
Institutions holding 314 250 179
Change in shares held, QoQ +3.7% -0.6% +6.6%
Institutions buying 165 136 96
Institutions selling 98 72 52
Buyers to sellers 1.68 1.89 1.85

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

ACHCNHCCYH
ACHC 1.00 0.25 0.30
NHC 0.25 1.00 0.12
CYH 0.30 0.12 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, ACHC, NHC and CYH?

National Healthcare (NHC) is the largest by market capitalisation: Acadia Healthcare Company (ACHC) $2.65B, National Healthcare (NHC) $3.33B, Community Health Systems (CYH) $323.16M.

Which stock is cheaper, ACHC, NHC and CYH?

Community Health Systems (CYH) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Acadia Healthcare Company (ACHC) -2.4x, National Healthcare (NHC) 23.7x, Community Health Systems (CYH) 4.7x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

National Healthcare (NHC) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Acadia Healthcare Company (ACHC) +4.3%, National Healthcare (NHC) +6.9%, Community Health Systems (CYH) -7.8%.

Which company is more profitable?

National Healthcare (NHC) has the highest net margin (Acadia Healthcare Company (ACHC) -33.4%, National Healthcare (NHC) 9.0%). On return on invested capital, National Healthcare (NHC) leads (Acadia Healthcare Company (ACHC) -24.7%, National Healthcare (NHC) 10.0%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year National Healthcare (NHC) returned the most: Acadia Healthcare Company (ACHC) +27.4%, National Healthcare (NHC) +73.2%, Community Health Systems (CYH) -35.7%. Over five years, National Healthcare (NHC) compounded fastest (Acadia Healthcare Company (ACHC) -13.8%/yr, National Healthcare (NHC) +24.8%/yr, Community Health Systems (CYH) -27.4%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Only one of these companies pays a dividend: Acadia Healthcare Company (ACHC) 0.00%, National Healthcare (NHC) 0.01%, Community Health Systems (CYH) 0.00%. Acadia Healthcare Company (ACHC) and Community Health Systems (CYH) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, National Healthcare (NHC) has been the steadiest (Acadia Healthcare Company (ACHC) 64.4%, National Healthcare (NHC) 34.7%, Community Health Systems (CYH) 50.3%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, ACHC, NHC and CYH?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, National Healthcare (NHC) leads on 8. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.