ADUS vs UNH: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?

Same yardstick, side by side (as of October 2026). Valuation lined up like this is most meaningful for two names in the same corner of the market, which these are. Figures are approximate; verify before investing.

The metrics above tell you which is the marginally better business. The bigger risk for most people is not picking the slightly worse stock, it is over-concentrating. ADUS and UNH share themes, so owning both, or adding either to what you already hold, can quietly push a large share of your portfolio into one bet.

This is the part a generic comparison page cannot answer, because it depends on what you own. Connect your brokerage and Walnut shows your real, combined ADUS and UNH exposure, flags overlap with your existing positions, and tells you if adding one would tip you past a concentration you are comfortable with, read-only by default, with your login staying at your broker. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

Addus HomeCare Corporation provides in-home care to elderly, chronically ill, and disabled people through three segments: personal care (help with bathing, dressing, meals, and daily activities), hospice (end-of-life care), and home health (skilled nursing and therapy). Personal care is by far the largest piece at roughly 77% of revenue and is funded predominantly by state Medicaid programs, while hospice and home health are largely Medicare-funded. The company operates across many states with heavy concentration in markets like Illinois, New Mexico, and Texas, and has grown for years through a steady stream of acquisitions, most recently a large personal care deal that lifted 2025 revenue sharply. In September 2026 it agreed to acquire AccentCare's personal care division in Illinois and Texas for $275 million, a deal valued at roughly 10.8x current EBITDA before synergies and expected to close in the first half of 2027.

Full ADUS guide

UnitedHealth Group is the largest US health insurer and one of the largest healthcare companies in the world. It runs through two main engines. UnitedHealthcare is the insurance arm, providing employer, individual, Medicare Advantage, and Medicaid health plans to tens of millions of members. Optum is the faster-growing health-services arm: Optum Health (physician groups and care delivery, including value-based care), Optum Insight (healthcare data, analytics, and technology), and Optum Rx (one of the largest pharmacy benefit managers in the country). The combination lets UnitedHealth manage both the financing and the delivery of care, capturing margin across the system and using vast claims data to manage costs. Headquartered in Minnetonka, Minnesota, UnitedHealth is a Dow component and one of the largest companies in the S&P 500 by revenue. Its scale, vertical integration, and Medicare Advantage leadership define its competitive position.

Full UNH guide

Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.

• ADUS drivers: Aging demographics and shift to home; Personal care volume and rate growth.
• UNH drivers: Optum growth engine; Medicare Advantage scale.

A faster-growing, richer-valued name usually swings harder, so it suits a longer horizon and a higher tolerance for volatility; a steadier, more cash-generative business suits a more conservative or income-minded investor. The honest test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: The largest risk is reimbursement concentration: personal care depends heavily on state Medicaid budgets and hospice and home health on Medicare, so rate cuts, budget shortfalls, or eligibility changes in key states can pressure revenue and margins directly. For UNH, unitedHealth faces a difficult medical-cost environment: rising utilization (especially in Medicare Advantage) can spike the medical loss ratio and compress margins, as the company has experienced.

Growth-minded investors who believe the theme has years to run tend to accept the richer multiple for more upside; value-minded investors lean toward the cheaper forward earnings and steadier profile. Pick ADUS if you believe its drivers more; UNH if you believe its. Many investors hold both, but since they share themes, that is a concentrated bet, not diversification. Decide deliberately and check overlap. For the full detail, see the ADUS and UNH guides.

ADUS. Addus trades near 20x trailing GAAP earnings and about 15.6x forward estimates, a valuation for a steady, profitable services operator rather than a high-growth name. Analysts expect 2026 revenue of about $1.52 billion and adjusted EPS of about $7.05. The third-quarter report on November 3, 2026 (consensus EPS about $1.79 on $388.7 million of revenue) is the next checkpoint, and the AccentCare deal is expected to add to growth in 2027 and 2028 once it closes.

UNH. The trailing P/E of about 26x is inflated by the near-zero fourth quarter of 2025; on forward earnings UNH trades near 17x, closer to its historical range. Revenue is enormous but insurance margins are thin, so the valuation hinges on whether the medical cost trend keeps stabilizing and the raised 2026 outlook holds. The stock has recovered a large part of its 2025 decline, which leaves less of a discount for regulatory and cost risk than a year ago.

Headline figures (approximate, October 2026): ADUS shows revenue (ttm) ~$1.48B, fy2025 revenue ~$1.42B (up ~23%), q2 2026 revenue ~$377.4M (up ~8%), q2 2026 adjusted eps ~$1.73 (vs ~$1.70 estimate); UNH shows revenue (ttm) ~$450 billion; Q3 2026 ~$112.7 billion, ~flat year on year, operating margin ~5.8% (net margin ~3.5%), net income (ttm) ~$15.9 billion (sensitive to medical costs), eps ~$15.55 trailing; Q3 2026 $4.69 vs $4.14 consensus.

ADUS and UNH are related but distinct: same themes, different businesses and risks. Neither wins in the abstract; the right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme. Walnut can show your combined ADUS and UNH exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.