CHEMED CORPORATION vs TENET HEALTHCARE CORP, two Medical Care stocks. A side-by-side on valuation, growth, margins, returns, and what each price is betting.
9.75 is the number to start from: Tenet's multiple, less than half of Chemed's 25.3, attached to the stronger current income statement, a 24.1% operating margin against 12.9%. Tenet's 39.5% return on equity comes geared, 1.97 turns of debt against Chemed's 0.11, and its 20.4% free-cash yield is the market's way of saying hospital margins this good are on borrowed time. Chemed's premium prices the opposite conviction: that hospice demand and Roto-Rooter's boring cash compound quietly for years. The cheap multiple carries cyclical suspicion; the dear one carries structural trust. Few sector pairs state the mean-reversion question this cleanly.
Comparison updated 2026-07-10.
| Metric | CHE | THC |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $462.49 | $187.50 |
| Market cap | $6.3B | $16.4B |
| Sector | Medical Care | Medical Care |
| Stage | Mature | Mature |
| Implied growth (priced in) | +4.5% | — |
| P/E | 25.3 | 9.8 |
| P/B | 7.47 | 2.45 |
| P/S | 2.49 | 0.77 |
| EV/EBITDA | 16.3 | 5.6 |
| Revenue growth | +2.1% | +4.5% |
| Operating margin | 12.9% | 24.1% |
| Net margin | 10.2% | 12.4% |
| Return on equity | 30.6% | 39.5% |
| Return on assets | 16.9% | 8.5% |
| Return on invested capital | 26.1% | 15.5% |
| FCF yield | 5.6% | 20.4% |
| Dividend yield | 0.5% | — |
| Debt / equity | 0.11 | 1.97 |
| Current ratio | 0.85 | 1.36 |
| Altman Z (solvency) | 10.00 | 1.58 |
| Piotroski F (quality) | 7 / 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.