Elevance Health vs Humana

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KIRA’s take AI analyst

I put Elevance Health and Humana side by side, using each one’s latest annual report. Here is what stands out:

Elevance Health is the larger business, with $199.1B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $129.7B for Humana, about 1.5 times as much.
Elevance Health grew revenue faster (12.5%, against 10.1%).
Elevance Health kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (3.6% operating margin, against 2.1%).
Elevance Health turned more of its sales into free cash flow (1.6% FCF margin, against 0.3%).
Humana earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (25.7%, against 15.2%).
Investors pay more for each dollar of Humana’s earnings: a P/E of 44.5x against 18.3x for Elevance Health.

Who comes out ahead

Of the 10 measures where higher (or lower) is clearly better, how many each company leads.

Elevance Health

ELV

7/10

Revenue growthOperating marginNet marginFCF marginReturn on equityPiotroski F-scoreShare count change

Humana

HUM

3/10

5-year growthReturn on capitalNet debt / EBITDA

Side by side

Best in the row

Latest fiscal year	ELV FY25	HUM FY25
Size
Market cap	$93.9B	$50.4B
Revenue	$199.1B	$129.7B
Free cash flow	$3.2B	$375M
Net income	$5.7B	$1.2B
Growth
Revenue growth	12.5%	10.1%
5-year growth	10.3%	10.9%
Share count change	−3.6%	−0.0%
Profitability
Gross margin	—	—
Operating margin	3.6%	2.1%
Net margin	2.8%	0.9%
FCF margin	1.6%	0.3%
Return on capital	15.2%	25.7%
Return on equity	13.3%	7.0%
Balance sheet
Net debt	−$3.3B	−$7.5B
Net debt / EBITDA	−0.4x	−2.2x
Dividends and buybacks	$4.1B	$581M
Valuation & quality
P/E	18.3x	44.5x
Piotroski F-score	6	5

Ten years

Revenue

FY16

ELV $84.9B

HUM $54.4B

FY17

ELV $90.0B

HUM $53.8B

FY18

ELV $92.1B

HUM $56.9B

FY19

ELV $104.2B

HUM $64.9B

FY20

ELV $121.9B

HUM $77.2B

FY21

ELV $138.6B

HUM $83.1B

FY22

ELV $156.6B

HUM $92.9B

FY23

ELV $171.3B

HUM $106.4B

FY24

ELV $177.0B

HUM $117.8B

FY25

ELV $199.1B

HUM $129.7B

FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24 FY25

ELV HUM

Operating margin

FY16

ELV 5.7%

HUM 3.2%

FY17

ELV 4.6%

HUM 7.9%

FY18

ELV 5.9%

HUM 5.5%

FY19

ELV 5.8%

HUM 4.9%

FY20

ELV 5.2%

HUM 6.5%

FY21

ELV 5.5%

HUM 3.8%

FY22

ELV 5.3%

HUM 4.1%

FY23

ELV 5.0%

HUM 3.8%

FY24

ELV 4.4%

HUM 2.2%

FY25

ELV 3.6%

HUM 2.1%

FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24 FY25

ELV HUM

Free cash flow

FY16

ELV $2.7B

HUM $1.4B

FY17

ELV $3.4B

HUM $3.5B

FY18

ELV $2.6B

HUM $1.6B

FY19

ELV $5.0B

HUM $4.5B

FY20

ELV $9.7B

HUM $4.7B

FY21

ELV $7.3B

HUM $920M

FY22

ELV $7.2B

HUM $3.5B

FY23

ELV $6.8B

HUM $3.0B

FY24

ELV $4.6B

HUM $2.4B

FY25

ELV $3.2B

HUM $375M

FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24 FY25

ELV HUM

Return on capital

FY16

ELV 13.2%

HUM 22.0%

FY17

ELV 18.0%

HUM —

FY18

ELV 15.3%

HUM —

FY19

ELV 17.7%

HUM —

FY20

ELV 18.2%

HUM —

FY21

ELV 22.3%

HUM 42.8%

FY22

ELV 23.3%

HUM 38.5%

FY23

ELV 23.8%

HUM 56.3%

FY24

ELV 17.6%

HUM 30.9%

FY25

ELV 15.2%

HUM 25.7%

FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24 FY25

ELV HUM

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.