Sifting through countless of stocks in the Health Care Providers & Services industry can be tedious, and sometimes two stocks are just too similar to judge which is the better investment. If you’re on the fence about investing in Centene Corporation or Humana Inc. because you’re not sure how they measure up, it’s important to compare them on a few factors before making your decision.

Read on to learn how Centene Corporation and Humana Inc. compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About Centene Corporation and Humana Inc.

Centene Corporation operates as a managed care company that provides programs and services to under-insured families, and commercial organizations in the United States. It operates through four segments: Medicaid, Medicare, Commercial, and Other. The Medicaid segment offers the temporary assistance for needy families; medicaid expansion; aged, blind, or disabled; and children's health insurance programs, as well as long-term services and supports; foster care; and medicare-medicaid plans. This segment also provides healthcare products and services. The Medicare segment offers special needs and medicare supplement, and prescription drug plans. The Commercial segment provides health insurance marketplace product for individual and commercial group. The Other segment operates clinical healthcare and pharmacies, as well as offers vision and dental, behavioral health, and centralized services. It provides services through primary and specialty care physicians, hospitals, behavioral health practitioners, and ancillary providers. The company was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Saint Louis, Missouri.

Humana Inc. provides medical and specialty insurance products in the United States. It operates in two segments, Insurance and CenterWell. The Insurance segment offers individual Medicare Advantage products, including health insurance benefits, including wellness programs, chronic care management, and care coordination; individual Medicare stand-alone prescription drug products (PDP); group Medicare advantage and Medicare stand-alone PDP; Medicare supplements; specialty and ancillary insurance comprising dental, vision, life and disability; and administrative services to arrange health care services for active-duty and retired military personnel and dependents, as well as pharmacy benefit managers. Its CenterWell segment operates full-service, value-based senior focused primary care centers under the Conviva Senior Primary Care and CenterWell Senior Primary Care brands; a management services organization; CenterWell Home Health, a home health provider; and OneHome, which manages post-acute patient needs, as well as provides pharmacy and hospice solutions. The company was formerly known as Extendicare Inc. and changed its name to Humana Inc. in April 1974. Humana Inc. was founded in 1961 and is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky.

Latest Health Care Providers & Services and Centene Corporation, Humana Inc. Stock News

As of May 29, 2026, Centene Corporation had a $29.4 billion market capitalization, compared to the Health Care Providers & Services median of $1.5 million. Centene Corporation’s stock is up 49.6% in 2026, up 4.1% in the previous five trading days and up 6.56% in the past year.

Currently, Centene Corporation does not have a price-earnings ratio. Centene Corporation’s trailing 12-month revenue is $178.3 billion with a -3.6% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 5.1%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $3.517 per share for the current fiscal year. Centene Corporation does not currently pay a dividend.

As of May 29, 2026, Humana Inc. had a $36.7 billion market cap, putting it in the 91st percentile of all stocks. Humana Inc.’s stock is up 27% in 2026, up 5.6% in the previous five trading days and up 34.08% in the past year.

Currently, Humana Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 32.6. Humana Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $137.2 billion with a 0.8% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 23.5%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $8.839 per share for the current fiscal year. Humana Inc. currently has a 1.2% dividend yield.

How We Compare Centene Corporation and Humana Inc. Stock Grades

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data and the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movements. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors streamline and work through such data.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A‐F grades for each of five key investing factors: value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality. Here, we’ll take a closer look at Centene Corporation and Humana Inc.’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

Learn more about A+ Investor here!

Sign Up to Receive a Free Special Report Showing How A+ Grades Can Help You Make Smarter Investment Decisions

Centene Corporation and Humana Inc. Stock Value Grades

Company	Ticker	Value
Centene Corporation	CNC	A
Humana Inc.	HUM	C

Successful stock investing involves buying low and selling high, so stock valuation is an important consideration for stock selection.

Buying stocks that are going to go up typically means buying stocks that are undervalued in the first place, although momentum investors may argue that point.

AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade derives from a stock’s value score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are a good value and so on.

Centene Corporation has a Value Score of 92, which is Deep Value. Humana Inc. has a Value Score of 49, which is Average.

The Value Stock Winner: Centene Corporation

As you can clearly see from the Value Grade breakdown above, Centene Corporation is considered to have better value than Humana Inc.. For investors who focus solely on a company’s valuation, Centene Corporation could be a good stock to add to their portfolio. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Centene Corporation and Humana Inc.’s Quality Grades

Company	Ticker	Quality
Centene Corporation	CNC	B
Humana Inc.	HUM	B

Like the Value Grade, AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the percentile rank of key metrics. Specifically, the Quality Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), gross profit relative to assets, buyback yield, change in total liabilities to assets, accruals, Z double prime bankruptcy risk (Z) score and the F-Score.

The score is variable, meaning it can consider all eight measures or, should any of the eight measures not be valid, the remaining measures that are valid. To be assigned a Quality Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) measure and corresponding ranking for at least four of the eight quality measures.

The Quality Score is used to assess the underlying “quality” of a particular stock. A higher-quality stock possesses traits associated with upside potential and reduced downside risk. Backtesting of the Quality Grade shows that stocks with higher grades, on average, outperformed stocks with lower grades over the period of 1998 through 2019.

Stocks receive better grades (higher scores) for having higher scores for the quality subcomponents and worse grades (lower scores) for lower scores for the subcomponents.

Centene Corporation has a Quality Score of 71, which is Strong. Humana Inc. has a Quality Score of 68, which is Strong.

The Quality Grade Winner: It’s a Tie!

Looking at the Quality Grade breakdown above, both Centene Corporation and Humana Inc. have a grade of B. For investors who focus solely on a company’s overall quality, you will need to conduct further research into both companies to see if they are a good fit for your portfolio. As a good rule of thumb, you should always analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before choosing a company to invest in.

Centene Corporation and Humana Inc.’s Estimate Revisions Grades

Company	Ticker	Earnings Estimate
Centene Corporation	CNC	B
Humana Inc.	HUM	D

Earnings estimate revisions scores consider the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, positive surprises beget further positive surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).

Estimate revisions offer an indication of what analysts are thinking about the short-term prospects of a firm. Estimate revisions are based on the statistical significance of a firm’s last two quarterly earnings surprises and the percentage change in its consensus estimate for the current fiscal year over the past month and past three months.

Centene Corporation has a Earnings Estimate Score of 70, which is Positive. Humana Inc. has a Earnings Estimate Score of 39, which is Negative.

The Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade Winner: Centene Corporation

As you can clearly see from the Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade breakdown above, Centene Corporation has a better Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade than Humana Inc.. For those who are specifically looking for companies with better short-term prospects when compared to other companies in the same industry, Centene Corporation could be a good stock to invest in. However, it’s important to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Other Centene Corporation and Humana Inc. Grades

In addition to Estimate Revisions, Value and Quality, A+ Investor also provides grades for Growth and Momentum.

Momentum grades help uncover stocks experiencing anomalously high rates of return; research finds that stocks with high relative levels of momentum tend to outperform, whereas those with low levels of momentum tend to continue underperforming.

Growth investing builds on the idea that stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth outperform those of slower-growth companies. AAII measures growth through consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations.

These 2 key factors, when combined with the above, provide a holistic view into a particular stock. Further, by joining A+ Investor you can see whether Centene Corporation and Humana Inc. pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, Centene Corporation or Humana Inc. Stock?

Overall, Centene Corporation stock has a Value Score of 92, Estimate Revisions Score of 70 and Quality Score of 71.

Humana Inc. stock has a Value Score of 49, Estimate Revisions Score of 39 and Quality Score of 68.

Comparing Centene Corporation and Humana Inc.’s grades, scores and metrics can act as a solid basis to determine whether they may be a good investment or not. You’ll also want to look at your portfolio’s asset allocation as well as your risk tolerance and financial goals to see if either of these stocks would make a good fit for you. AAII can help you figure out which investments align with your individual needs and preferences.

Investors are encouraged to do their own due diligence and research. In this way, individuals can effectively become managers of their own assets‐without having to rely on others for financial independence. You can count on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis.

A+ Investor adds to our qualitative teaching with a powerful data suite to help you whittle down investment choices to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith, and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.