CVS Health (NYSE:CVS – Get Rating) and Clover Health Investments (NASDAQ:CLOV – Get Rating) are both retail/wholesale companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation and dividends.
Risk and Volatility
CVS Health has a beta of 0.63, meaning that its stock price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Clover Health Investments has a beta of 1.97, meaning that its stock price is 97% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Insider & Institutional Ownership
77.0% of CVS Health shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 25.4% of Clover Health Investments shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of CVS Health shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 21.4% of Clover Health Investments shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Analyst Ratings
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| CVS Health | 0 | 2 | 14 | 0 | 2.88 |
| Clover Health Investments | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2.00 |
CVS Health presently has a consensus price target of $107.26, suggesting a potential upside of 54.54%. Clover Health Investments has a consensus price target of $2.08, suggesting a potential upside of 136.13%. Given Clover Health Investments’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Clover Health Investments is more favorable than CVS Health.
Profitability
This table compares CVS Health and Clover Health Investments’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| CVS Health | 1.20% | 15.75% | 4.91% |
| Clover Health Investments | -10.74% | -96.52% | -24.44% |
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares CVS Health and Clover Health Investments’ revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| CVS Health | $330.92 billion | 0.27 | $4.15 billion | $3.03 | 22.91 |
| Clover Health Investments | $3.48 billion | 0.12 | -$338.84 million | ($0.71) | -1.24 |
CVS Health has higher revenue and earnings than Clover Health Investments. Clover Health Investments is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than CVS Health, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
CVS Health beats Clover Health Investments on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About CVS Health
CVS Health Corporation provides health services in the United States. It operates through Health Care Benefits, Pharmacy Services, and Retail/LTC segments. The Health Care Benefits segment offers traditional, voluntary, and consumer-directed health insurance products and related services. It serves employer groups, individuals, college students, part-time and hourly workers, health plans, health care providers, governmental units, government-sponsored plans, labor groups, and expatriates. The Pharmacy Services segment offers pharmacy benefit management solutions, including plan design and administration, formulary management, retail pharmacy network management, mail order pharmacy, specialty pharmacy and infusion, clinical, and disease and medical spend management services. It serves employers, insurance companies, unions, government employee groups, health plans, prescription drug plans, Medicaid managed care plans, plans offered on public health insurance and private health insurance exchanges, other sponsors of health benefit plans, and individuals. This segment operates retail specialty pharmacy stores; and specialty mail-order, mail-order dispensing, and compounding pharmacies, as well as branches for infusion and enteral nutrition services. The Retail/LTC segment sells prescription and over-the-counter drugs, consumer health and beauty products, and personal care products; and provides health care services through its MinuteClinic walk-in medical clinics. This segment also distributes prescription drugs; and provides related pharmacy consulting and other ancillary services to care facilities and other care settings. The company was formerly known as CVS Caremark Corporation and changed its name to CVS Health Corporation in September 2014. CVS Health Corporation was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Woonsocket, Rhode Island.
About Clover Health Investments
Clover Health Investments, Corp. provides medicare advantage plans in the United States. The company through its Clover Assistant, a software platform that provides preferred provider organization and health maintenance organization health plans for medicare-eligible consumers. It also focuses on non-insurance businesses. The company was incorporated in 2014 and is based in Franklin, Tennessee.
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