HCA Healthcare vs UnitedHealth
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The short version
- UnitedHealth is the larger business, with $447.6B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $75.6B for HCA Healthcare, about 5.9 times as much.
- UnitedHealth grew revenue faster (11.8%, against 7.1%).
- HCA Healthcare turned more of its sales into free cash flow (10.2% FCF margin, against 3.6%).
- HCA Healthcare earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (22.3%, against 11.2%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of UnitedHealth’s earnings: a P/E of 26.9x against 16.2x for HCA Healthcare.
| Latest fiscal year | HCA · FY25 | UNH · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $106.3B | $378.8B |
| Revenue | $75.6B | $447.6B |
| Free cash flow | $7.7B | $16.1B |
| Net income | $6.8B | $12.1B |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 7.1% | 11.8% |
| 5-year growth | 8.0% | 11.7% |
| Share count change | −8.5% | −1.9% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | — | 88.7% |
| Operating margin | — | 4.2% |
| Net margin | 9.0% | 2.7% |
| FCF margin | 10.2% | 3.6% |
| Return on capital | 22.3% | 11.2% |
| Return on equity | — | 12.2% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $46.2B | $50.3B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 3.0x | 2.2x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $10.7B | $13.5B |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 16.2x | 26.9x |
| Piotroski F-score | 6 | 7 |
Revenue
FY16
HCA $41.5B
UNH $184.8B
FY17
HCA $43.6B
UNH $201.2B
FY18
HCA $46.7B
UNH $226.2B
FY19
HCA $51.3B
UNH $242.2B
FY20
HCA $51.5B
UNH $257.1B
FY21
HCA $58.8B
UNH $287.6B
FY22
HCA $60.2B
UNH $324.2B
FY23
HCA $65.0B
UNH $371.6B
FY24
HCA $70.6B
UNH $400.3B
FY25
HCA $75.6B
UNH $447.6B
HCA
UNH
Operating margin
FY16
HCA —
UNH 7.0%
FY17
HCA —
UNH 7.6%
FY18
HCA —
UNH 7.7%
FY19
HCA —
UNH 8.1%
FY20
HCA —
UNH 8.7%
FY21
HCA —
UNH 8.3%
FY22
HCA —
UNH 8.8%
FY23
HCA —
UNH 8.7%
FY24
HCA —
UNH 8.1%
FY25
HCA —
UNH 4.2%
HCA
UNH
Free cash flow
FY16
HCA $2.9B
UNH $8.1B
FY17
HCA $2.4B
UNH $11.6B
FY18
HCA $3.2B
UNH $13.7B
FY19
HCA $3.4B
UNH $16.4B
FY20
HCA $6.4B
UNH $20.1B
FY21
HCA $5.4B
UNH $19.9B
FY22
HCA $4.1B
UNH $23.4B
FY23
HCA $4.7B
UNH $25.7B
FY24
HCA $5.6B
UNH $20.7B
FY25
HCA $7.7B
UNH $16.1B
HCA
UNH
Return on capital
FY16
HCA 19.1%
UNH 13.9%
FY17
HCA 14.5%
UNH 19.0%
FY18
HCA 20.6%
UNH 18.9%
FY19
HCA 17.9%
UNH 19.1%
FY20
HCA 17.3%
UNH 19.0%
FY21
HCA 26.4%
UNH 20.1%
FY22
HCA 22.5%
UNH 21.4%
FY23
HCA 19.5%
UNH 21.6%
FY24
HCA 20.0%
UNH 17.9%
FY25
HCA 22.3%
UNH 11.2%
HCA
UNH
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.