NHC vs NUTX vs UHS Stock Comparison

National Healthcare, Nutex Health and Universal Health Services Prices as of Oct 28, 2026 Peers: Industry group
NHC National Healthcare Corp
$211.34 -6.6% 1M +73.2% 1Y
Market cap
$3.31B
P/E
23.5x
Revenue (TTM)
$1.56B
Div. yield
1.24%
Home Health and Senior Care Healthcare
3 wins
NUTX Nutex Health Inc.
$212.63 -0.1% 1M +65.2% 1Y
Market cap
$1.46B
P/E
8.1x
Revenue (TTM)
$846.72M
Div. yield
–
Hospitals Healthcare
3 wins

Head to Head

11 decided of 12

Universal Health Services leads on 5 of the 12 questions below (Universal Health Services 5, Nutex Health 3, National Healthcare 3). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionNHCNUTXUHSLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $3.31B $1.46B $8.90B UHS
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 23.5x 8.1x 7.0x UHS
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS — 7.6x 7.4x UHS
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +6.9% +6.9% +8.0% UHS
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 9.0% 21.2% — NUTX
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 10.0% 56.1% — NUTX
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA — -0.4x — –
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 1.24% — 0.46% NHC
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +73.2% +65.2% -21.5% NHC
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +24.8%/yr — +6.8%/yr NHC
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 34.7% 89.2% 33.2% UHS
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 79/100 82/100 65/100 NUTX

Percentile Scorecard

NHCNUTXUHS

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

AxisNHCNUTXUHS
Valuation 77 #22 of 92 92 #8 of 92 97 #4 of 92
Growth 80 #18 of 87 91 #9 of 87 49 #45 of 87
Profitability 81 #17 of 86 99 #2 of 86 77 #21 of 86
Financial Health 88 #13 of 97 89 #12 of 97 –
Shareholder Returns 67 #19 of 55 39 #34 of 55 37 #35 of 55
Overall 79 82 65
  • NHC ranked among 102 companies in Healthcare Providers
  • NUTX ranked among 102 companies in Healthcare Providers
  • UHS ranked among 102 companies in Healthcare Providers

Price Performance

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

Returns

PeriodNHCNUTXUHSSPY
1 month -6.6%-0.1%-3.0% +0.9%
3 months -7.7%+51.3%+2.5% +5.9%
6 months +20.7%+89.8%+2.5% +8.5%
Year to date +54.2%+29.2%-21.0% +13.3%
1 year +73.2%+65.2%-21.5% +12.4%
3 years +219.7%+678.9%+39.6% +88.1%
3 years, per year +47.4%+98.3%+11.8% +23.5%
5 years +202.2%—+38.7% +68.2%
5 years, per year +24.8%—+6.8% +11.0%
10 years +226.5%—+42.8% +263.4%
10 years, per year +12.6%—+3.6% +13.8%

Risk

MeasureNHCNUTXUHSSPY
Volatility, 1Y 34.7%89.2%33.2% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 32.2%88.1%35.3% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 0.131.780.09 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 2.110.73-0.65 0.98
Max drawdown, 5Y -34.4%-99.9%-43.5% -25.4%
From 52-week high -14.5%-5.5%-29.5% -0.9%
52-week high $247.31$225.00$244.18 $779.14
52-week low $119.44$87.01$141.17 $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.

MultipleNHCNUTXUHS
P/E now vs peer median 23.5xmedian 25.6x 8.1xmedian 25.6x 7.0xmedian 25.6x
P/S now vs peer median 2.1xmedian 1.6x 1.7xmedian 1.6x 0.5xmedian 1.6x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 16.3xmedian 16.3x 3.3xmedian 16.3x —median 16.3x
P/FCF now vs peer median 22.6xmedian 21.3x 5.3xmedian 21.3x 10.7xmedian 21.3x
P/B now vs peer median 2.9xmedian 3.3x 2.9xmedian 3.3x 1.2xmedian 3.3x
PEG now vs peer median 0.38median 0.68 0.26median 0.68 0.20median 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 monthsNHCNUTXUHS
Revenue $1.56B $846.72M $18.35B
Gross profit – $434.03M –
Operating income $144.68M $364.27M $1.99B
Net income $142.84M $272.49M $1.48B
Free cash flow $146.53M $274.17M –
EPS (diluted) $8.84 $25.62 $24.40
Cash & equivalents $39.21M $205.21M $168.75M
Total debt – $39.70M –
Shares (diluted) 15.86M 7.02M 59.91M
Enterprise value $2.29B $804.01M $8.90B

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
MetricNHCNUTXUHS
P/E 23.5x 8.1x 7.0x
P/FCF 22.6x 5.3x 10.7x
P/Operating cash flow 17.5x 5.2x 4.3x
P/S 2.1x 1.7x 0.5x
P/B 2.9x 2.9x 1.2x
P/Tangible book 3.0x 3.0x 1.2x
EV/EBITDA 16.3x 3.3x –
EV/EBIT 21.4x 3.5x –
EV/Revenue 2.0x 1.5x 0.5x
EV/FCF 21.2x 4.7x –
EV/Operating cash flow 16.4x 4.6x 4.3x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 0.38 0.26 0.20

Growth

14 metrics
MetricNHCNUTXUHS
Revenue growth (1Y) 6.9% 6.9% 8.0%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 12.8% 62.5% 9.4%
Gross profit growth (1Y) – 6.7% –
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) – 273.1% –
Operating income growth (1Y) 24.1% 52.9% 2.2%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 57.4% 41.4% 21.7%
Net income growth (1Y) 35.9% 119.2% 6.0%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 68.9% 37.7% 30.4%
EPS growth (1Y) 31.6% 206.2% 12.9%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 61.9% 31.2% 36.0%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 26.7% 228.7% 5.5%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 44.1% 446.8% 22.7%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 23.2% 229.4% –
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 58.0% 266.5% –

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricNHCNUTXUHS
Gross margin – 51.3% –
EBITDA margin 12.2% 45.5% –
Operating margin 9.3% 43.0% –
Pretax margin 11.9% 40.6% –
Net margin 9.0% 21.2% –
FCF margin 9.4% 32.4% –
Operating cash flow margin 12.1% 33.0% 11.2%
Return on equity 12.8% 57.4% 19.5%
Return on assets 9.3% 28.4% 9.0%
Return on invested capital 10.0% 56.1% –
Return on capital employed 11.2% 43.2% –
Asset turnover 1.0x 0.9x 1.1x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 1.3x 1.0x 1.4x
Stock comp / revenue 0.3% 1.1% 0.5%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricNHCNUTXUHS
Debt / assets – 4.1% –
Debt / equity – 0.1x –
Net debt / EBITDA – -0.4x –
Debt / FCF – 0.1x –
Liabilities / assets 26.6% 47.4% –
Equity / assets 73.4% 52.6% 44.6%
Interest coverage 56.6x 18.4x –
Current ratio 1.9x 5.0x 1.4x
Quick ratio 1.5x 4.8x –
Cash ratio 0.9x 1.8x –
Altman Z-score 7.15 4.36 –

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricNHCNUTXUHS
Dividend yield 1.2% – 0.5%
Net buyback yield 0.1% -0.1% –
Shareholder yield 1.4% -0.1% 0.5%
Payout ratio (earnings) 27.8% 30.9% –
Payout ratio (FCF) 27.1% 30.7% –
Dividend growth (1Y) 5.6% 260.2% –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) 4.3% 140.0% –

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.

ConsensusNHCNUTXUHS
Forward P/E – 7.6xFY2026 7.4xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year – $27.99FY2026 $23.16FY2026
EPS growth, next FY – +167.1%FY2026 +6.5%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after – -8.6% +8.6%
Revenue, next fiscal year – $824.09MFY2026 $18.14BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY – -5.8%FY2026 +4.5%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after – +19.4% +10.1%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersNHCNUTXUHS
Held by institutions 65.3% 42.8% 100.0%
Institutions holding 250 153 597
Change in shares held, QoQ -0.6% +5.8% +1.2%
Institutions buying 136 99 289
Institutions selling 72 36 235
Buyers to sellers 1.89 2.75 1.23

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.

NHCNUTXUHS
NHC 1.00 0.07 0.35
NUTX 0.07 1.00 -0.03
UHS 0.35 -0.03 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, NHC, NUTX and UHS?

Universal Health Services (UHS) is the largest by market capitalisation: National Healthcare (NHC) $3.31B, Nutex Health (NUTX) $1.46B, Universal Health Services (UHS) $8.90B.

Which stock is cheaper, NHC, NUTX and UHS?

Universal Health Services (UHS) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (National Healthcare (NHC) 23.5x, Nutex Health (NUTX) 8.1x, Universal Health Services (UHS) 7.0x). On next year's consensus earnings, Universal Health Services (UHS) is cheapest (Nutex Health (NUTX) 7.6x, Universal Health Services (UHS) 7.4x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Universal Health Services (UHS) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: National Healthcare (NHC) +6.9%, Nutex Health (NUTX) +6.9%, Universal Health Services (UHS) +8.0%.

Which company is more profitable?

Nutex Health (NUTX) has the highest net margin (National Healthcare (NHC) 9.0%, Nutex Health (NUTX) 21.2%). On return on invested capital, Nutex Health (NUTX) leads (National Healthcare (NHC) 10.0%, Nutex Health (NUTX) 56.1%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year National Healthcare (NHC) returned the most: National Healthcare (NHC) +73.2%, Nutex Health (NUTX) +65.2%, Universal Health Services (UHS) -21.5%. Over five years, National Healthcare (NHC) compounded fastest (National Healthcare (NHC) +24.8%/yr, Universal Health Services (UHS) +6.8%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

National Healthcare (NHC) has the highest dividend yield: National Healthcare (NHC) 1.24%, Universal Health Services (UHS) 0.46%. Nutex Health (NUTX) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Universal Health Services (UHS) has been the steadiest (National Healthcare (NHC) 34.7%, Nutex Health (NUTX) 89.2%, Universal Health Services (UHS) 33.2%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, NHC, NUTX and UHS?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Universal Health Services (UHS) leads on 5. 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.