BrightSpring Health Services, Inc. vs UNIVERSAL HEALTH SERVICES, INC., two Medical Care stocks. A side-by-side on valuation, growth, margins, returns, and what each price is betting.
Universal Health at 6.1 times earnings is priced for behavioral-and-acute hospital margins to mean-revert; BrightSpring at 49.1 times is priced for home-care roll-up growth to compound uninterrupted, and the 43-turn spread between two care providers is the sector's widest belief gap. Current economics side with the cheap one: UHS earns an 11.2% operating margin against 3.4%, 20.2% on equity against 15.7% with half the leverage, and returns 10.2% of its price in free cash against 2.7%. BrightSpring's premium is entirely about trajectory. Prices like these make the reader choose between mean reversion and momentum with almost no middle ground; the fundamentals have already voted, the multiple disagrees, and one of them concedes eventually.
Comparison updated 2026-07-10.
| Metric | BTSG | UHS |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $68.80 | $145.68 |
| Market cap | $15.2B | $9.0B |
| Sector | Medical Care | Medical Care |
| Stage | Growth | Mature |
| P/E | 49.1 | 6.1 |
| P/B | 7.69 | 1.19 |
| P/S | 1.12 | 0.51 |
| EV/EBITDA | 41.7 | 5.4 |
| Revenue growth | +28.0% | +10.4% |
| Gross margin | 13.3% | — |
| Operating margin | 3.4% | 11.2% |
| Net margin | 2.3% | 8.6% |
| Return on equity | 15.7% | 20.2% |
| Return on assets | 5.0% | 9.7% |
| Return on invested capital | 7.2% | 12.0% |
| FCF yield | 2.7% | 10.2% |
| Dividend yield | — | 0.6% |
| Debt / equity | 1.29 | 0.72 |
| Current ratio | 1.74 | 1.08 |
| Altman Z (solvency) | 4.65 | 7.26 |
| Piotroski F (quality) | 5 / 9 | 7 / 9 |
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The stronger value is highlighted per metric where one is strictly better on that single number; it is not an overall verdict on either company. For informational and research purposes only. Not investment advice. Not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. boothcheck is not a registered investment adviser. Past performance does not guarantee future results.