Verdict: Side-by-side breakdown using the Bull Rankings model. ELV scored 45.1, UNH scored 65.9 — UNH leads.
Compare another set
ELV
Elevance Health, Inc.
Healthcare Plans · Quality-Growth
45.1
$412.70 · $89.5B
fundamentals as of
Score gap
20.8
UNH leads
UNH
UnitedHealth Group Incorporated
Healthcare Plans · Quality-Growth
65.9
$379.30 · $340.5B
fundamentals as of
At a glance · who leads each dimension, on the model's own rules
CheapestELV18.3x
Fastest growthELV+12.6%
Strongest balance sheetELV0.69
Highest qualityUNH62 / 100
Largest discount to fair valueUNH-43%
Side by side · every name on one set of axes
Growth against the P/E multiple. Up and to the right is cheaper and faster — the quality-growth idea in one picture. Points beyond the axis are pinned to the edge and marked off-scale rather than allowed to compress everything else.
The model, pillar by pillar (0–100 each)
ELV
stronger →← stronger
UNH
55
Qualityreturns · margins · balance sheet
62
65
Growthrevenue & earnings expansion
84
26
Valuevaluation vs sector peers
55
UNH is stronger on 3 of 3 pillars.
Fundamentals, head-to-head
ELV
UNH
$6.3bB+
FCF
$23.6bA
+12.6%B+
Rev
+11.8%B
0.69C+
D/E
0.69C+
18.3xA-
P/E
23.9xB+
—
PEG
1.01B+
Winner per row is the stronger grade; where grades tie, the better figure breaks it. A true tie or a missing value shows no highlight.
Valuation · DCF cross-check
ELV
UNH
36% below
Price vs fair valuelower is cheaper
43% below
~-3%/yr
Growth the price impliesyr-1 FCF growth, fading to 4% · lower = less priced in
~-5%/yr
+43%
1-yr DCF upside
+59%
+56%
5-yr DCF upside
+77%
+77%
10-yr DCF upside
+107%
The DCF is a cross-check on intrinsic value, separate from the quality-growth score above.
Model signals
ELV
Why this score
Buying back stock
UNH
Why this score
Raising its dividend
The companies
ELVElevance Health, Inc.
Healthcare Plans · $412.70 · beta 0.71
Why now
Healthcare Plans · market cap $89.5b. 5% off the 52-week high of $436.24. Revenue growing +13%, comfortably above the S&P median. 21 sell-side analysts rate this a Buy with a mean 1-yr target of $451.48 (implying +9% upside).
Moat
ROE 11% meets the long-run market sustainable threshold — solid but not differentiated; the durability comes from elsewhere. FCF converts 127% of net income — earnings translate cleanly into cash. $89.5b market cap gives the company enough scale to absorb fixed costs that subscale competitors can't, without yet being so large that growth has to come from acquisition.
Risk
Net margin 2.5% is thin — operating leverage cuts both ways; input-cost inflation or pricing pressure hits the bottom line first.
UNHUnitedHealth Group Incorporated
Healthcare Plans · $379.30 · beta 0.61
Why now
Healthcare Plans · market cap $340.5b. 18% off the 52-week high of $461.62. Revenue growing +12%, comfortably above the S&P median. 25 sell-side analysts rate this a Buy with a mean 1-yr target of $481.72 (implying +27% upside).
Moat
ROE 14% meets the long-run market sustainable threshold — solid but not differentiated; the durability comes from elsewhere. FCF converts 167% of net income, helped by cash released from working capital ($7.3b) that doesn't repeat every year. $340.5b market cap places it among the largest companies in the sector — distribution, R&D, and customer-acquisition costs amortize across a base peers can't replicate.
Risk
Net margin 3.1% is thin — operating leverage cuts both ways; input-cost inflation or pricing pressure hits the bottom line first.
Verdict — model-derived comparison
Generating verdict… typically 5–10 seconds
Not investment advice. The Bull Rankings publishes a quantitative ranking model and accompanying analysis for general informational purposes only. Nothing on this page is a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security; nothing is personalized to your circumstances, risk tolerance, or tax situation. Investing carries the risk of loss — invest at your own risk and consider consulting a licensed financial professional before acting on anything you read here. See terms and methodology for full disclosures.
Where ELV and UNH diverge
On the headline score the gap is 20.8 points in favor of UNH. The widest single difference is Value, where UNH leads by 28.8 points.
ValueELV 25.8 · UNH 54.6UNH +28.8
GrowthELV 64.9 · UNH 83.9UNH +19.0
QualityELV 54.6 · UNH 62.4UNH +7.8
Pillars run 0–100. Value is judged against each company's own sector, so a Value score is a statement about a company relative to its own industry rather than to the other name here. A wide Value gap usually means the market already prices the difference in quality or growth — which is the trade-off this comparison comes down to.
Common questions
Is UNH or ELV the better stock?
UNH scores higher: UNH 65.9, ELV 45.1 out of 100 on the Bull Rankings quality-growth score, which blends business quality, growth and valuation into one number. A higher score means a stronger business at a more reasonable price — it is not a price target or a recommendation.
Where do UNH and ELV differ most?
The widest gap is value, where UNH leads by 29 points on the 0–100 pillar scale. UNH leads all three pillars, so the gap is broad rather than a single-measure difference.
How are UNH and ELV scored?
Each carries the same 0–100 quality-growth score used everywhere on the site, built from three pillars — quality (profitability and returns on capital), growth (revenue and earnings), and value (what you pay for them) — combined as a geometric mean, so a weak pillar cannot be papered over by a strong one.
How current is this comparison?
The whole universe is re-scored every trading day after the US market close, so the scores and fundamentals here reflect the latest published edition.