ENSG vs INNV vs NHC Stock Comparison

Ensign, InnovAge Holding and National Healthcare Prices as of Oct 29, 2026 Peers: Industry group
ENSG Ensign Group, Inc
$186.32 +6.1% 1M +2.0% 1Y
Market cap
$10.51B
P/E
26.3x
Revenue (TTM)
$5.67B
Div. yield
–
Home Health and Senior Care Healthcare
4 wins
INNV InnovAge Holding Corp.
$9.24 +2.9% 1M +91.7% 1Y
Market cap
$1.25B
P/E
–
Revenue (TTM)
$989.71M
Div. yield
–
Home Health and Senior Care Healthcare
3 wins
NHC National Healthcare Corp
$211.62 -5.6% 1M +75.1% 1Y
Market cap
$3.24B
P/E
23.1x
Revenue (TTM)
$1.56B
Div. yield
0.01%
Home Health and Senior Care Healthcare
4 wins

Head to Head

11 decided of 12

Ensign leads on 4 of the 12 questions below (Ensign 4, National Healthcare 4, InnovAge Holding 3). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionENSGINNVNHCLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $10.51B $1.25B $3.24B ENSG
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 26.3x -490.8x 23.1x NHC
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 22.5x 20.5x — INNV
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +17.5% +15.9% +6.9% ENSG
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 7.0% -0.3% 9.0% NHC
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 14.3% 0.0% 10.0% ENSG
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA -0.3x -3.8x — INNV
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.00% 0.01% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +2.0% +91.7% +75.1% INNV
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +19.0%/yr +6.9%/yr +24.8%/yr NHC
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 29.3% 72.5% 34.7% ENSG
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 65/100 66/100 79/100 NHC

Percentile Scorecard

ENSGINNVNHC

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

AxisENSGINNVNHC
Valuation 70 #28 of 92 65 #33 of 92 77 #22 of 92
Growth 63 #33 of 87 87 #12 of 87 79 #19 of 87
Profitability 74 #23 of 86 49 #44 of 86 84 #15 of 86
Financial Health 72 #28 of 97 64 #36 of 97 88 #13 of 97
Shareholder Returns 44 #31 of 55 – 69 #18 of 55
Overall 65 66 79
  • ENSG ranked among 102 companies in Healthcare Providers
  • INNV ranked among 102 companies in Healthcare Providers
  • NHC ranked among 102 companies in Healthcare Providers

Price Performance

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

Returns

PeriodENSGINNVNHCSPY
1 month +6.1%+2.9%-5.6% +0.7%
3 months +4.2%-20.3%-7.5% +3.7%
6 months -0.2%+13.4%+22.1% +7.1%
Year to date +7.0%+78.0%+54.4% +12.8%
1 year +2.0%+91.7%+75.1% +11.9%
3 years +95.5%+71.4%+213.7% +85.2%
3 years, per year +25.1%+19.7%+46.4% +22.8%
5 years +138.8%+39.6%+202.6% +67.6%
5 years, per year +19.0%+6.9%+24.8% +10.9%
10 years +993.4%—+227.0% +262.0%
10 years, per year +27.0%—+12.6% +13.7%

Risk

MeasureENSGINNVNHCSPY
Volatility, 1Y 29.3%72.5%34.7% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 24.9%65.6%32.3% 12.6%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y -0.060.540.13 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 0.071.262.17 0.94
Max drawdown, 5Y -31.8%-71.0%-34.4% -25.4%
From 52-week high -13.7%-23.7%-14.4% -1.2%
52-week high $215.83$12.11$247.31 $779.14
52-week low $147.13$3.99$119.44 $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.

MultipleENSGINNVNHC
P/E now vs peer median 27.0xmedian 26.0x -494.2xmedian 26.0x 23.6xmedian 26.0x
P/S now vs peer median 1.9xmedian 1.6x 1.3xmedian 1.6x 2.1xmedian 1.6x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 16.9xmedian 15.4x 47.4xmedian 15.4x 16.3xmedian 15.4x
P/FCF now vs peer median 21.3xmedian 21.5x 24.9xmedian 21.5x 22.6xmedian 21.5x
P/B now vs peer median 4.2xmedian 3.2x 5.3xmedian 3.2x 2.9xmedian 3.2x
PEG now vs peer median 1.70median 0.87 -8.19median 0.87 0.38median 0.87

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 monthsENSGINNVNHC
Revenue $5.67B $989.71M $1.56B
Gross profit $1.20B $677.61M –
Operating income $509.16M $2.62M $144.68M
Net income $399.32M -$1.83M $142.84M
Free cash flow $509.91M $50.41M $146.53M
EPS (diluted) $6.73 $-0.02 $8.84
Cash & equivalents $337.59M $97.89M $39.21M
Total debt $198.72M $48.06M –
Shares (diluted) 59.30M 135.70M 15.86M
Enterprise value $8.63B $729.74M $2.21B

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
MetricENSGINNVNHC
P/E 27.0x -494.2x 23.6x
P/FCF 21.3x 24.9x 22.6x
P/Operating cash flow 15.6x 19.4x 17.6x
P/S 1.9x 1.3x 2.1x
P/B 4.2x 5.3x 2.9x
P/Tangible book 4.3x 5.3x 3.0x
EV/EBITDA 16.9x 47.4x 16.3x
EV/EBIT 21.0x 444.4x 21.5x
EV/Revenue 1.9x 1.2x 2.0x
EV/FCF 20.9x 23.1x 21.2x
EV/Operating cash flow 15.4x 18.0x 16.4x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 1.70 -8.19 0.38

Growth

14 metrics
MetricENSGINNVNHC
Revenue growth (1Y) 17.5% 15.9% 6.9%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 16.8% 12.9% 12.8%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 21.7% 15.9% –
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 16.3% 12.5% –
Operating income growth (1Y) 26.6% 108.8% 24.1%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 18.3% 27.1% 57.4%
Net income growth (1Y) 21.6% 94.9% 35.9%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 17.2% 65.2% 68.9%
EPS growth (1Y) 20.9% 91.6% 31.6%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 15.9% 60.4% 61.9%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 44.5% 96.9% 26.7%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 26.8% 47.3% 44.1%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 76.1% 89.5% 23.2%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 29.2% 162.9% 58.0%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricENSGINNVNHC
Gross margin 21.2% 68.5% –
EBITDA margin 11.1% 2.5% 12.2%
Operating margin 9.0% 0.3% 9.3%
Pretax margin 9.4% 0.0% 11.9%
Net margin 7.0% -0.3% 9.0%
FCF margin 9.0% 5.1% 9.4%
Operating cash flow margin 12.3% 6.5% 12.1%
Return on equity 16.0% -0.3% 12.8%
Return on assets 6.8% -0.1% 9.3%
Return on invested capital 14.3% 0.0% 10.0%
Return on capital employed 10.4% 0.8% 11.2%
Asset turnover 1.0x 1.8x 1.0x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 1.7x -35.4x 1.3x
Stock comp / revenue 1.1% 0.7% 0.3%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricENSGINNVNHC
Debt / assets 3.3% 8.6% –
Debt / equity 0.1x 0.2x –
Net debt / EBITDA -0.3x -3.8x –
Debt / FCF 0.4x 1.0x –
Liabilities / assets 57.3% 57.2% 26.6%
Equity / assets 42.7% 42.8% 73.4%
Interest coverage 62.8x – 56.6x
Current ratio 1.2x 1.1x 1.9x
Quick ratio 1.1x 0.9x 1.5x
Cash ratio 0.4x 0.7x 0.9x
Altman Z-score 3.64 3.91 7.16

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricENSGINNVNHC
Dividend yield 0.1% – 1.2%
Net buyback yield 0.2% – 0.1%
Shareholder yield 0.3% – 1.4%
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.

ConsensusENSGINNVNHC
Forward P/E 22.5xFY2026 20.5xFY2027 –
EPS, next fiscal year $8.29FY2026 $0.45FY2027 –
EPS growth, next FY +26.2%FY2026 – –
EPS growth, the year after -1.8% +4.4% –
Revenue, next fiscal year $5.76BFY2026 $1.00BFY2027 –
Revenue growth, next FY +13.9%FY2026 +1.5%FY2027 –
Revenue growth, the year after +16.9% +11.0% –

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersENSGINNVNHC
Held by institutions 89.8% 13.5% 65.3%
Institutions holding 548 106 250
Change in shares held, QoQ -1.2% +15.2% -0.6%
Institutions buying 250 70 136
Institutions selling 214 24 72
Buyers to sellers 1.17 2.92 1.89

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.

ENSGINNVNHC
ENSG 1.00 0.03 0.33
INNV 0.03 1.00 0.15
NHC 0.33 0.15 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, ENSG, INNV and NHC?

Ensign (ENSG) is the largest by market capitalisation: Ensign (ENSG) $10.51B, InnovAge Holding (INNV) $1.25B, National Healthcare (NHC) $3.24B.

Which stock is cheaper, ENSG, INNV and NHC?

National Healthcare (NHC) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Ensign (ENSG) 26.3x, InnovAge Holding (INNV) -490.8x, National Healthcare (NHC) 23.1x). On next year's consensus earnings, InnovAge Holding (INNV) is cheapest (Ensign (ENSG) 22.5x, InnovAge Holding (INNV) 20.5x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Ensign (ENSG) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Ensign (ENSG) +17.5%, InnovAge Holding (INNV) +15.9%, National Healthcare (NHC) +6.9%.

Which company is more profitable?

National Healthcare (NHC) has the highest net margin (Ensign (ENSG) 7.0%, InnovAge Holding (INNV) -0.3%, National Healthcare (NHC) 9.0%). On return on invested capital, Ensign (ENSG) leads (Ensign (ENSG) 14.3%, InnovAge Holding (INNV) 0.0%, National Healthcare (NHC) 10.0%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year InnovAge Holding (INNV) returned the most: Ensign (ENSG) +2.0%, InnovAge Holding (INNV) +91.7%, National Healthcare (NHC) +75.1%. Over five years, National Healthcare (NHC) compounded fastest (Ensign (ENSG) +19.0%/yr, InnovAge Holding (INNV) +6.9%/yr, National Healthcare (NHC) +24.8%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Only one of these companies pays a dividend: Ensign (ENSG) 0.00%, InnovAge Holding (INNV) 0.00%, National Healthcare (NHC) 0.01%. Ensign (ENSG) and InnovAge Holding (INNV) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Ensign (ENSG) has been the steadiest (Ensign (ENSG) 29.3%, InnovAge Holding (INNV) 72.5%, National Healthcare (NHC) 34.7%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, ENSG, INNV and NHC?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Ensign (ENSG) leads on 4. 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.