EHC vs SGRY vs ARDT Stock Comparison

Encompass Health, Surgery Partners and Ardent Health Prices as of Oct 27, 2026 Peers: Industry group
EHC Encompass Health Corp
$121.52 -1.6% 1M -4.5% 1Y
Market cap
$12.09B
P/E
19.5x
Revenue (TTM)
$6.21B
Div. yield
0.01%
Hospitals Healthcare
7 wins
SGRY Surgery Partners, Inc.
$23.36 +62.2% 1M +2.0% 1Y
Market cap
$3.01B
P/E
–
Revenue (TTM)
$3.37B
Div. yield
–
Healthcare Services Healthcare
1 win
ARDT Ardent Health, Inc.
$11.84 +12.3% 1M -21.8% 1Y
Market cap
$1.68B
P/E
21.5x
Revenue (TTM)
$6.41B
Div. yield
–
Hospitals Healthcare
3 wins

Head to Head

11 decided of 12

Encompass Health leads on 7 of the 12 questions below (Encompass Health 7, Ardent Health 3, Surgery Partners 1). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionEHCSGRYARDTLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $12.09B $3.01B $1.68B EHC
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 19.5x -33.9x 21.5x EHC
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 20.5x 58.4x 12.7x ARDT
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +9.5% +4.0% +3.3% EHC
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 10.0% -2.6% 1.2% EHC
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 15.4% 5.3% 7.4% EHC
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 1.7x 6.3x 0.9x ARDT
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.01% 0.00% 0.00% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months -4.5% +2.0% -21.8% SGRY
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +13.8%/yr -10.6%/yr — EHC
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 29.5% 66.8% 59.6% EHC
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 65/100 56/100 67/100 ARDT

Percentile Scorecard

EHCSGRYARDT

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

AxisEHCSGRYARDT
Valuation 78 #21 of 92 84 #16 of 92 99 #2 of 92
Growth 56 #39 of 87 43 #50 of 87 45 #48 of 87
Profitability 92 #8 of 86 66 #30 of 86 69 #27 of 86
Financial Health 38 #61 of 97 30 #68 of 97 56 #43 of 97
Shareholder Returns 64 #21 of 56 – –
Overall 65 56 67
  • EHC ranked among 102 companies in Healthcare Providers
  • SGRY ranked among 102 companies in Healthcare Providers
  • ARDT ranked among 102 companies in Healthcare Providers

Price Performance

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

Returns

PeriodEHCSGRYARDTSPY
1 month -1.6%+62.2%+12.3% -0.2%
3 months +4.8%+49.9%+3.0% +3.9%
6 months +19.5%+62.8%+21.9% +8.2%
Year to date +14.5%+51.2%+34.1% +12.9%
1 year -4.5%+2.0%-21.8% +12.3%
3 years +99.7%+4.2%— +87.4%
3 years, per year +25.9%+1.4%— +23.3%
5 years +90.4%-42.9%— +67.9%
5 years, per year +13.8%-10.6%— +10.9%
10 years +217.0%+40.1%— +261.1%
10 years, per year +12.2%+3.4%— +13.7%

Risk

MeasureEHCSGRYARDTSPY
Volatility, 1Y 29.5%66.8%59.6% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 24.9%65.5%74.0% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 0.020.821.16 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y -0.150.03-0.37 0.97
Max drawdown, 5Y -39.1%-81.4%-61.2% -25.4%
From 52-week high -5.0%0.0%-21.8% -1.2%
52-week high $127.92$23.36$15.14 $779.14
52-week low $93.83$11.49$7.83 $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.

MultipleEHCSGRYARDT
P/E now vs peer median 19.3xmedian 24.6x -34.0xmedian 24.6x 21.4xmedian 24.6x
P/S now vs peer median 1.9xmedian 1.6x 0.9xmedian 1.6x 0.3xmedian 1.6x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 9.7xmedian 14.6x 11.8xmedian 14.6x 4.8xmedian 14.6x
P/FCF now vs peer median 29.0xmedian 21.6x 16.3xmedian 21.6x 5.5xmedian 21.6x
P/B now vs peer median 3.5xmedian 3.2x 1.0xmedian 3.2x 1.0xmedian 3.2x
PEG now vs peer median 0.74median 0.66 1.97median 0.66 —median 0.66

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 monthsEHCSGRYARDT
Revenue $6.21B $3.37B $6.41B
Operating income – $383.80M –
Net income $833.30M $48.10M $125.32M
Free cash flow $413.40M $187.60M $304.76M
EPS (diluted) $6.21 $-0.69 $0.55
Cash & equivalents $107.70M $216.70M $724.48M
Total debt $2.63B $3.75B $1.10B
Shares (diluted) 100.00M 128.83M 143.05M
Enterprise value $11.75B $2.17B -$968.54M

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
MetricEHCSGRYARDT
P/E 19.3x -34.0x 21.4x
P/FCF 29.0x 16.3x 5.5x
P/Operating cash flow 9.9x 11.9x 3.3x
P/S 1.9x 0.9x 0.3x
P/B 3.5x 1.0x 1.0x
P/Tangible book 3.9x 1.0x 1.0x
EV/EBITDA 9.7x 11.8x 4.8x
EV/EBIT 12.6x 17.2x 7.9x
EV/Revenue 2.3x 2.0x 0.3x
EV/FCF 35.1x 35.1x 6.8x
EV/Operating cash flow 12.0x 25.6x 4.0x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 0.74 1.97 –

Growth

14 metrics
MetricEHCSGRYARDT
Revenue growth (1Y) 9.5% 4.0% 3.3%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 10.7% 8.1% –
Gross profit growth (1Y) – – –
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) – – –
Operating income growth (1Y) – 6.1% –
Operating income CAGR (3Y) – 7.1% –
Net income growth (1Y) 20.3% 136.2% -61.3%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 26.2% 15.6% –
EPS growth (1Y) 21.5% 51.6% -69.6%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 26.0% -17.2% –
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 9.7% -2.2% 70.3%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 21.4% 16.4% –
Free cash flow growth (1Y) -5.9% 7.0% 181.8%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 62.3% 36.7% –

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricEHCSGRYARDT
Gross margin – – –
EBITDA margin 24.2% 16.7% 6.7%
Operating margin – 11.4% –
Pretax margin 16.6% 11.4% 3.2%
Net margin 10.0% -2.6% 1.2%
FCF margin 6.7% 5.6% 4.8%
Operating cash flow margin 19.5% 7.7% 8.0%
Return on equity 24.8% 2.6% 9.7%
Return on assets 11.3% 1.0% 3.2%
Return on invested capital 15.4% 5.3% 7.4%
Return on capital employed 17.7% 5.1% 6.0%
Asset turnover 0.8x 0.4x 1.2x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 1.5x 5.4x 4.1x
Stock comp / revenue 0.9% 0.3% 0.6%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricEHCSGRYARDT
Debt / assets 35.3% 46.6% 20.9%
Debt / equity 0.8x 1.2x 0.6x
Net debt / EBITDA 1.7x 6.3x 0.9x
Debt / FCF 6.4x 20.0x 3.6x
Liabilities / assets 54.4% 61.5% 66.9%
Equity / assets 45.6% 38.5% 33.1%
Interest coverage 9.2x – 5.1x
Current ratio 1.2x 1.9x 2.1x
Quick ratio 0.9x 1.4x 1.5x
Cash ratio 0.1x 0.4x 0.7x
Altman Z-score – 0.88 2.05

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricEHCSGRYARDT
Dividend yield 0.6% – –
Net buyback yield 2.1% – –
Shareholder yield 2.7% – –
Payout ratio (earnings) 9.0% – –
Payout ratio (FCF) 18.2% – –
Dividend growth (1Y) 12.1% – –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) 0.9% – –

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.

ConsensusEHCSGRYARDT
Forward P/E 20.5xFY2026 58.4xFY2026 12.7xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $5.94FY2026 $0.40FY2026 $0.93FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +9.0%FY2026 -14.9%FY2026 -3.1%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +7.1% -5.0% +17.2%
Revenue, next fiscal year $6.62BFY2026 $3.38BFY2026 $6.84BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +11.5%FY2026 +2.2%FY2026 +8.2%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +9.2% -2.9% +1.4%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersEHCSGRYARDT
Held by institutions 96.0% 100.0% 76.4%
Institutions holding 595 189 137
Change in shares held, QoQ -0.8% -0.8% +1.4%
Institutions buying 292 111 87
Institutions selling 217 50 36
Buyers to sellers 1.35 2.22 2.42

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.

EHCSGRYARDT
EHC 1.00 0.11 0.25
SGRY 0.11 1.00 0.22
ARDT 0.25 0.22 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, EHC, SGRY and ARDT?

Encompass Health (EHC) is the largest by market capitalisation: Encompass Health (EHC) $12.09B, Surgery Partners (SGRY) $3.01B, Ardent Health (ARDT) $1.68B.

Which stock is cheaper, EHC, SGRY and ARDT?

Encompass Health (EHC) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Encompass Health (EHC) 19.5x, Surgery Partners (SGRY) -33.9x, Ardent Health (ARDT) 21.5x). On next year's consensus earnings, Ardent Health (ARDT) is cheapest (Encompass Health (EHC) 20.5x, Surgery Partners (SGRY) 58.4x, Ardent Health (ARDT) 12.7x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Encompass Health (EHC) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Encompass Health (EHC) +9.5%, Surgery Partners (SGRY) +4.0%, Ardent Health (ARDT) +3.3%.

Which company is more profitable?

Encompass Health (EHC) has the highest net margin (Encompass Health (EHC) 10.0%, Surgery Partners (SGRY) -2.6%, Ardent Health (ARDT) 1.2%). On return on invested capital, Encompass Health (EHC) leads (Encompass Health (EHC) 15.4%, Surgery Partners (SGRY) 5.3%, Ardent Health (ARDT) 7.4%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Surgery Partners (SGRY) returned the most: Encompass Health (EHC) -4.5%, Surgery Partners (SGRY) +2.0%, Ardent Health (ARDT) -21.8%. Over five years, Encompass Health (EHC) compounded fastest (Encompass Health (EHC) +13.8%/yr, Surgery Partners (SGRY) -10.6%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Only one of these companies pays a dividend: Encompass Health (EHC) 0.01%, Surgery Partners (SGRY) 0.00%, Ardent Health (ARDT) 0.00%. Surgery Partners (SGRY) and Ardent Health (ARDT) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Encompass Health (EHC) has been the steadiest (Encompass Health (EHC) 29.5%, Surgery Partners (SGRY) 66.8%, Ardent Health (ARDT) 59.6%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, EHC, SGRY and ARDT?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Encompass Health (EHC) leads on 7. 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.