Centene Corp vs CVS Health Corp

Centene Corp (CNC) is slightly undervalued and CVS Health Corp (CVS) is slightly overvalued.

Against our estimates of intrinsic value, CNC trades at the wider discount: a margin of safety of +20%, against -10% for CVS.

Values as of the 22 Sept 2026 close.

Centene Corp (CNC)

Its through-the-cycle earnings (2.2% median margin), capitalised at 8.5% with no growth, values the shares at $78.72; the price of $63.30 is 20% below that value.

Leak Score 34/100 on 8 of 12 signals

CVS Health Corp (CVS)

Discounting its cash flows at 7.3% (average of 3 methods) values the shares at $79.35; the price of $87.10 is 10% above that value, and 82% of that value comes from beyond year five.

Leak Score 36/100 on 9 of 12 signals

MetricCNCCVS
VerdictSlightly undervaluedSlightly overvalued
Price$63.30$87.10
Intrinsic value$78.72$79.35
Margin of safety+20%-10%
Leak Score34/100 (8/12)36/100 (9/12)
Market cap$31.3B$111.4B
Revenue growth, 5 years11.9%8.4%
Operating margin0.8%3.5%
Net margin-2.5%1.2%
Return on equity-20.4%6.2%
Debt to equity0.710.96
P/E23.0x
Forward P/E11.9x10.2x
P/B1.4x1.4x
Dividend yield3.1%

All stocks in Healthcare Plans