HCA vs. MDLN: HCA Healthcare vs. Medline Stock Comparison

Company Profile

HCA Healthcare (HCA) and Medline (MDLN) both fall under the Health Care Equipment & Services industry group, but HCA is classified in Health Care Providers & Services while MDLN is classified in Health Care Equipment & Supplies.

HCA Healthcare (HCA) has been public since March 10, 2011 with a meaningfully longer listed history, while Medline (MDLN) only listed on December 17, 2025 — long-window metrics on the MDLN side should be interpreted with caution.

Price Performance

Cumulative Growth

Trailing Returns

Calendar-Year Returns

Performance Metrics

Risk Profile

Drawdown History

Return Distribution

Risk Metrics

Medline (MDLN) reports a negative beta of -0.93, suggesting inverse market sensitivity over the measurement window. That is uncommon for ordinary equities and can reflect commodity-linked or hedge-like exposure, but it can also come from statistical noise. HCA Healthcare (HCA) has a non-negative beta of 1.07.

Risk-Adjusted Performance

Risk-Return Positioning

Both HCA and MDLN need 1-year volatility and 1-year return to plot risk-return positioning.

Risk-Adjusted Metrics

Profitability

Capital efficiency shows on one side only: Medline (MDLN) earns 4.85% on shareholders’ equity, ranked against its industry; HCA Healthcare (HCA) has no ROE this period.

Both HCA Healthcare (HCA) at 8.61% and Medline (MDLN) at 1.85% keep about the typical share of revenue as profit for their industries — neither bottom line stands out from peers.

HCA Healthcare (HCA) at 14.83% operates in the top operating margin quartile, ahead of Medline (MDLN) at 5.22%, which runs around its industry’s norm.

Profitability Metrics

Growth

Only one side can be read here: HCA Healthcare (HCA) reports revenue growth of 7.08%, ranked against its industry; Medline (MDLN) has no revenue growth figure this period.

Both companies show strong earnings momentum, but Medline (MDLN) at 117.38% is the standout with EPS growth above its industry range; HCA Healthcare (HCA) at 28.77% also sits in the top quartile.

Growth Metrics

Financial Strength

Medline (MDLN) at 4.04 carries current ratio above its industry’s typical mid-range, while HCA Healthcare (HCA) at 0.82 runs in the tighter-liquidity quartile — different working-capital profiles, both worth examining.

Only one side’s leverage can be read here: Medline (MDLN) carries debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65 against its industry range, while HCA Healthcare (HCA) reports no figure this period.

Financial Strength Metrics

Dividends

Medline (MDLN) pays no dividend (yield 0.00%) — it may be reinvesting, using buybacks, or simply not returning cash through dividends. Meanwhile HCA Healthcare (HCA) reports a yield of 0.60%, ranking against industry peers normally.

Medline (MDLN) pays no dividend (payout 0.00%) — it may be reinvesting, using buybacks, or simply not returning cash through dividends. Meanwhile HCA Healthcare (HCA) reports a payout of 10.15%, ranking against industry peers normally.

Dividend Metrics

Valuation

HCA Healthcare (HCA) at 16.42 sits in the cheaper P/E ratio quartile, while Medline (MDLN) at 90.09 trades above its peer range — a wide earnings-valuation gap relative to industry peers.

On P/S ratio, both HCA Healthcare (HCA) at 1.31 and Medline (MDLN) at 1.70 are priced roughly in line with their industries — neither looks cheap nor rich on a sales basis.

HCA Healthcare (HCA) reports a negative P/B ratio of -12.92, meaning negative book equity — the multiple itself is not meaningful for valuation. Meanwhile Medline (MDLN) reports 2.95, ranking against industry peers normally.

Valuation Metrics