NHC vs THC vs OPCH Stock Comparison

National Healthcare, Tenet Healthcare and Option Care Health Prices as of Oct 26, 2026 Peers: Industry group
NHC National Healthcare Corp
$223.59 -1.4% 1M +82.2% 1Y
Market cap
$3.31B
P/E
23.6x
Revenue (TTM)
$1.56B
Div. yield
0.01%
Home Health and Senior Care Healthcare
3 wins
THC Tenet Healthcare Corp
$268.86 +3.5% 1M +27.8% 1Y
Market cap
$21.96B
P/E
9.8x
Revenue (TTM)
$21.81B
Div. yield
–
Hospitals Healthcare
8 wins
OPCH Option Care Health, Inc.
$31.23 +35.4% 1M +11.9% 1Y
Market cap
$4.79B
P/E
22.8x
Revenue (TTM)
$5.69B
Div. yield
–
Home Health and Senior Care Healthcare

Head to Head

11 decided of 12

Tenet Healthcare leads on 8 of the 12 questions below (Tenet Healthcare 8, National Healthcare 3). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionNHCTHCOPCHLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $3.31B $21.96B $4.79B THC
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 23.6x 9.8x 22.8x THC
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS — 12.2x 16.1x THC
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +6.9% +5.4% +5.9% NHC
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 9.0% 10.3% 3.7% THC
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 10.0% 18.8% 9.9% THC
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA — 2.0x 2.4x THC
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.01% 0.00% 0.00% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +82.2% +27.8% +11.9% NHC
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +27.4%/yr +30.8%/yr +3.2%/yr THC
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 34.4% 42.2% 52.1% NHC
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 77/100 77/100 53/100 THC

Percentile Scorecard

NHCTHCOPCH

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

AxisNHCTHCOPCH
Valuation 73 #26 of 93 94 #7 of 93 79 #20 of 93
Growth 79 #19 of 88 74 #24 of 88 23 #68 of 88
Profitability 76 #22 of 87 97 #4 of 87 65 #31 of 87
Financial Health 88 #13 of 100 37 #63 of 100 44 #56 of 100
Shareholder Returns 67 #19 of 56 86 #9 of 56 –
Overall 77 77 53
  • NHC ranked among 103 companies in Healthcare Providers
  • THC ranked among 103 companies in Healthcare Providers
  • OPCH ranked among 103 companies in Healthcare Providers

Price Performance

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

Returns

PeriodNHCTHCOPCHSPY
1 month -1.4%+3.5%+35.4% -0.8%
3 months -1.1%+10.5%+43.2% +3.5%
6 months +26.8%+44.9%+11.8% +7.0%
Year to date +63.1%+35.3%-2.0% +12.2%
1 year +82.2%+27.8%+11.9% +13.0%
3 years +238.3%+406.1%+17.3% +86.3%
3 years, per year +50.2%+71.8%+5.5% +23.1%
5 years +235.8%+283.2%+17.2% +68.6%
5 years, per year +27.4%+30.8%+3.2% +11.0%
10 years +240.7%+1,144.7%— +258.0%
10 years, per year +13.0%+28.7%— +13.6%

Risk

MeasureNHCTHCOPCHSPY
Volatility, 1Y 34.4%42.2%52.1% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 31.6%34.0%50.4% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 0.150.480.05 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 2.390.660.23 1.02
Max drawdown, 5Y -34.4%-58.9%-46.7% -25.4%
From 52-week high -9.6%-4.2%-14.6% -1.8%
52-week high $247.31$280.77$36.59 $779.14
52-week low $119.44$161.37$19.52 $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.

MultipleNHCTHCOPCH
P/E now vs peer median 24.9xmedian 25.1x 10.0xmedian 25.1x 22.8xmedian 25.1x
P/S now vs peer median 2.2xmedian 1.6x 1.0xmedian 1.6x 0.8xmedian 1.6x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 17.3xmedian 14.5x 6.0xmedian 14.5x 13.8xmedian 14.5x
P/FCF now vs peer median 23.9xmedian 22.4x 7.2xmedian 22.4x 15.4xmedian 22.4x
P/B now vs peer median 3.1xmedian 3.1x 3.3xmedian 3.1x 3.7xmedian 3.1x
PEG now vs peer median 0.40median 0.66 0.13median 0.66 22.06median 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 monthsNHCTHCOPCH
Revenue $1.56B $21.81B $5.69B
Gross profit – – $1.09B
Operating income $144.68M $4.54B $333.69M
Net income $142.84M $3.17B $209.58M
Free cash flow $146.53M $3.02B $303.85M
EPS (diluted) $8.84 $26.69 $1.37
Cash & equivalents $39.21M $2.17B $193.77M
Total debt – $13.25B $1.16B
Shares (diluted) 15.86M 83.96M 153.49M
Enterprise value $2.29B $10.96B $3.87B

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
MetricNHCTHCOPCH
P/E 24.9x 10.0x 22.8x
P/FCF 23.9x 7.2x 15.4x
P/Operating cash flow 18.5x 5.4x 13.5x
P/S 2.2x 1.0x 0.8x
P/B 3.1x 3.3x 3.7x
P/Tangible book 3.2x 4.1x 4.8x
EV/EBITDA 17.3x 6.0x 13.8x
EV/EBIT 22.8x 7.2x 16.9x
EV/Revenue 2.1x 1.5x 1.0x
EV/FCF 22.5x 10.8x 18.6x
EV/Operating cash flow 17.4x 8.2x 16.3x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 0.40 0.13 22.06

Growth

14 metrics
MetricNHCTHCOPCH
Revenue growth (1Y) 6.9% 5.4% 5.9%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 12.8% 3.1% 11.3%
Gross profit growth (1Y) – – 2.6%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) – – 5.3%
Operating income growth (1Y) 24.1% 23.5% -0.1%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 57.4% 24.7% 6.3%
Net income growth (1Y) 35.9% 32.4% -0.8%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 68.9% 41.1% -4.4%
EPS growth (1Y) 31.6% 65.1% 6.1%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 61.9% 77.6% 1.0%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 26.7% 62.9% 24.0%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 44.1% 31.1% -3.8%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 23.2% 94.7% 26.0%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 58.0% 46.5% -4.7%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricNHCTHCOPCH
Gross margin – – 19.1%
EBITDA margin 12.2% 25.0% 7.2%
Operating margin 9.3% 20.8% 5.9%
Pretax margin 11.9% 17.7% 5.0%
Net margin 9.0% 10.3% 3.7%
FCF margin 9.4% 13.9% 5.3%
Operating cash flow margin 12.1% 18.4% 6.1%
Return on equity 12.8% 47.8% 16.0%
Return on assets 9.3% 10.3% 6.2%
Return on invested capital 10.0% 18.8% 9.9%
Return on capital employed 11.2% 17.9% 13.0%
Asset turnover 1.0x 0.7x 1.7x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 1.3x 1.3x 1.7x
Stock comp / revenue 0.3% 0.6% 0.7%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricNHCTHCOPCH
Debt / assets – 43.2% 34.3%
Debt / equity – 2.0x 0.9x
Net debt / EBITDA – 2.0x 2.4x
Debt / FCF – 4.4x 3.8x
Liabilities / assets 26.6% 78.6% 62.7%
Equity / assets 73.4% 21.4% 37.3%
Interest coverage 56.6x 5.5x 6.2x
Current ratio 1.9x 1.4x 1.5x
Quick ratio 1.5x 0.9x 1.0x
Cash ratio 0.9x 0.4x 0.2x
Altman Z-score 7.43 2.10 3.88

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricNHCTHCOPCH
Dividend yield 1.2% – –
Net buyback yield 0.1% 7.6% –
Shareholder yield 1.3% 7.6% –
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.

ConsensusNHCTHCOPCH
Forward P/E – 12.2xFY2026 16.1xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year – $21.99FY2026 $1.94FY2026
EPS growth, next FY – +31.0%FY2026 +12.8%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after – -7.1% +12.9%
Revenue, next fiscal year – $23.70BFY2026 $5.93BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY – +11.2%FY2026 +5.0%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after – -0.3% -2.1%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersNHCTHCOPCH
Held by institutions 65.3% 96.2% 100.0%
Institutions holding 250 677 372
Change in shares held, QoQ -0.6% -1.9% -4.6%
Institutions buying 136 331 212
Institutions selling 72 260 121
Buyers to sellers 1.89 1.27 1.75

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.

NHCTHCOPCH
NHC 1.00 0.24 0.12
THC 0.24 1.00 0.14
OPCH 0.12 0.14 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, NHC, THC and OPCH?

Tenet Healthcare (THC) is the largest by market capitalisation: National Healthcare (NHC) $3.31B, Tenet Healthcare (THC) $21.96B, Option Care Health (OPCH) $4.79B.

Which stock is cheaper, NHC, THC and OPCH?

Tenet Healthcare (THC) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (National Healthcare (NHC) 23.6x, Tenet Healthcare (THC) 9.8x, Option Care Health (OPCH) 22.8x). On next year's consensus earnings, Tenet Healthcare (THC) is cheapest (Tenet Healthcare (THC) 12.2x, Option Care Health (OPCH) 16.1x). 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: National Healthcare (NHC) +6.9%, Tenet Healthcare (THC) +5.4%, Option Care Health (OPCH) +5.9%.

Which company is more profitable?

Tenet Healthcare (THC) has the highest net margin (National Healthcare (NHC) 9.0%, Tenet Healthcare (THC) 10.3%, Option Care Health (OPCH) 3.7%). On return on invested capital, Tenet Healthcare (THC) leads (National Healthcare (NHC) 10.0%, Tenet Healthcare (THC) 18.8%, Option Care Health (OPCH) 9.9%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year National Healthcare (NHC) returned the most: National Healthcare (NHC) +82.2%, Tenet Healthcare (THC) +27.8%, Option Care Health (OPCH) +11.9%. Over five years, Tenet Healthcare (THC) compounded fastest (National Healthcare (NHC) +27.4%/yr, Tenet Healthcare (THC) +30.8%/yr, Option Care Health (OPCH) +3.2%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Only one of these companies pays a dividend: National Healthcare (NHC) 0.01%, Tenet Healthcare (THC) 0.00%, Option Care Health (OPCH) 0.00%. Tenet Healthcare (THC) and Option Care Health (OPCH) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, National Healthcare (NHC) has been the steadiest (National Healthcare (NHC) 34.4%, Tenet Healthcare (THC) 42.2%, Option Care Health (OPCH) 52.1%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, NHC, THC and OPCH?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Tenet Healthcare (THC) 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.