Healius vs Australian Clinical Labs shares

If you’re considering a slice of Australia’s diagnostic healthcare sector, you might be torn between Healius Ltd (ASX: HLS) and Australian Clinical Labs Ltd (ASX: ACL) shares. Both companies are big names in pathology, with nationwide reach and established reputations. But their fundamentals, dividends, and recent share price momentum tell very different stories. Let’s dive into what really sets these two healthcare stocks apart.

The case for Healius

Healius is one of Australia’s largest pathology service providers, operating under well-known brands like Laverty, Dorevitch, and QML Pathology. Healius ran around 2,000 collection sites and close to 100 labs across the country. In May 2025, Healius sold its Lumus Imaging business and now focuses on pathology and its bioanalytical laboratory arm, Agilex Biolabs.

Looking at current fundamentals, three points really stand out:

• The share price has been hammered this year, with a -52.5% year-to-date return.
• Healius’s P/E ratio is 55.56, with an earnings per share of -0.563. (Note: Healius’s reported P/E ratio may be based on a different earnings measure than the EPS figure shown, which is why they may appear inconsistent.)
• Dividend yield is currently 0.00%. Despite a long history of fully franked payouts, the last special dividend was paid in May 2025, and before that, ordinary dividends dried up after 2022.

So while Healius is a large, established player with an extensive network, it’s struggling for profitability and income at the moment.

The case for Australian Clinical Labs

Australian Clinical Labs is another leading pathology player, with a strong footprint across nearly all states and territories (excluding Tasmania). The company operates more than 75 laboratories and 1,300 collection centres, handling over 12 million episodes a year. ACL is also a significant provider to both private and public hospitals, and increasingly active in specialised screenings and commercial testing.

Here are a few of the most notable fundamentals right now:

• Year-to-date return is a healthy 8.4%—a far cry from Healius’s collapse.
• The P/E ratio is 23.11, backed by positive earnings per share of 0.141.
• Dividend yield is 4.56%, with 100% franking. ACL has delivered regular, fully franked dividends; the latest was 9.25 cents per share in September 2026.

Overall, ACL is profitable, growing, and paying out a solid stream of income.

Valuation comparison

Here’s how the two companies stack up on key numbers:

Metric	Healius	Australian Clinical Labs
Market Cap	$305.00 million	$514.79 million
P/E Ratio	55.56 (Note: P/E may not be based on the EPS shown, which is negative)	23.11
Earnings per share (EPS)	-0.563	0.141
Dividend Yield	0.00%	4.56%
Franking	100%	100%
YTD Return	-52.5%	8.4%

While both companies offer fully franked dividends, only ACL is currently paying and yielding above 4%. Healius has lost significant ground—both in share price and earnings.

Recent share price momentum

Comparing recent share price performance up to 1 October 2026:

• Healius closed at $0.42 on 1 October 2026, down 2.3% on the day and showing steep declines so far in 2026. Year to date, Healius is down 52.5%.
• Australian Clinical Labs closed at $2.76 on 1 October 2026, falling 3.2% that day, but overall in positive territory for 2026 with an 8.4% gain year to date.

Both shares dipped on the last trading day, but their trajectories are worlds apart this year. Healius has been in steep decline; ACL has outperformed and delivered positive momentum.

Which is the better buy?

If I had to choose between Healius and Australian Clinical Labs today, my pick would be clear: Australian Clinical Labs. The company is profitable, offers a solid fully franked dividend yield, and has delivered meaningful share price growth this year. Meanwhile, Healius is battling negative earnings, has halted regular dividends, and has seen its market cap and share price tumble by more than half in 2026. ACL’s lower P/E ratio (compared to Healius) also suggests investors aren’t paying as much for each dollar of earnings, at least within the context of these two healthcare stocks. While both serve a vital role in Australian pathology and may benefit from long-term healthcare trends, only ACL currently pairs business quality with real income and positive momentum. That’s where I’d be leaning with my investment dollars today.

The post Healius vs Australian Clinical Labs: Which ASX pathology share wins? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Laura Stewart has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips. This article was prepared with the assistance of Large Language Model (LLM) tools for the initial draft. Any content assisted by AI is subject to our robust human-in-the-loop quality control framework, involving thorough review, substantial editing, and fact-checking by our experienced writers and editors holding appropriate credentials. The Motley Fool Australia stands behind the work of our editorial team and takes ultimate responsibility for the content published by The Motley Fool Australia.

I think long-term investing is the best way to go when it comes to ASX shares.

Holding a good investment for a long time gives compounding time to work its magic, and it also means that investors aren’t unnecessarily interrupting the growth by activating a capital gains tax (CGT) event and paying some of the value to the ATO.

In my view, the two ideas below are great ones to own for the long term.  

Siteminder Ltd (ASX: SDR)

When a business is compounding its financials at a strong pace, it’s very likely to deliver pleasing shareholder returns over time. Siteminder is growing at double-digits each year, and I think that’s set to continue for the foreseeable future.

Siteminder provides software to many thousands of hotels around the world. The Siteminder offering is the world’s leading hotel commerce platform, while Little Hotelier is an all-in-one hotel management software that helps smaller operators.

During FY26, the company added 5,900 properties to its customer base, taking the total count to 56,000. In recent times, it has been targeting larger hotels, which come with scale benefits.

The company’s top-line growth was solid during FY26, with revenue up 18.6% to $266.1 million and annual recurring revenue (ARR) up 14.9% to $313.7 million. The ARR figure suggests another solid year of revenue growth is ahead.

It’s experiencing momentum across its new offerings within the ‘smart platform’, which I expect will play a bigger part in the coming years.

Dynamic revenue plus now supports more than 50,000 rooms (more than double the HY26 level) – hoteliers are benefiting from new AI-powered capabilities and predictive demand analytics.

Channels plus grew from 7,000 hotels in HY26 to almost 10,000 at the year-end. The smart distribution program continued to contribute to partner outcomes. These are helping drive a higher average revenue per user (ARPU), which rose 9.3% to $429 in FY26.

The ASX share’s profit margins continue to improve. The adjusted group gross profit margin increased 84 basis points (0.84%) to 67.2%. It also reported 96.5% growth of adjusted operating profit (EBITDA) to $28.1 million, and adjusted free cash flow increased 123% to $10.5 million.

According to the projection on CommSec, the Siteminder share price is valued at just 17 times FY29’s estimated earnings.

WCM Quality Global Growth Fund (ASX: WCMQ)

The other investment I want to highlight is this exchange-traded fund (ETF), which is operated by the WCM investment team, based in Laguna Beach, California. It’s a very different environment from the actual Wall Street in New York, helping WCM invest differently.

WCM’s investment process is based on the belief that corporate culture is the biggest influence on a company’s ability to grow its competitive advantages (or economic moat).

It aims to have a portfolio of between 20 and 40 stocks with access to quality global companies primarily in the high-growth consumer, technology, and healthcare sectors. I’m calling this an ASX share because it’s about investing in shares, and we can buy it on the ASX.

The investment team aren’t looking for a quick return, but long-term compounders that are delivering a rising return on invested capital (ROIC), which is a good sign of a strengthening bottom line, helping shareholder returns.

This team has shown that the investment strategy has worked for the long term. In the 10 years to August 2026, the investment strategy has returned an average of 16.2%. Of course, past performance is not a guarantee of future returns.

I’d be very happy to own this fund for the next decade (and beyond), while receiving a minimum distribution yield of 5%.

The post 2 top ASX shares to buy and hold for the next decade appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has positions in SiteMinder and Wcm Quality Global Growth Fund. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended SiteMinder. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended SiteMinder. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

Superannuation is a very important tool to save for retirement, whether that’s for a 60-year-old or a 20-year-old.

Superannuation offers several benefits, such as a lower tax rate during the accumulation phase. In retirement, the tax rate can be as low as 0% (depending on the superannuation balance).

Additionally, superannuation’s structure encourages long-term investing, which I think is the best way to build wealth.

Everyone wants to have a good retirement, and I think reaching the current average superannuation of a 60-year-old is a good target to aim at.

Average superannuation balance for 60-year-olds

Before talking about what Australians can do to grow their superannuation balance, let’s look at what the actual target is.

According to APRA data, the average super balance for 55 to 59-year-olds is $243,300, and for 60 to 64-year-olds it is $270,800. So, let’s say an investor wants to reach approximately $250,000.

A quarter of a million dollars is a significant amount of money to boost income in retirement. It could add $10,000 of income or more, depending on the dividend yield, rental yield, or interest rate of the assets inside superannuation.

When we look at the average superannuation balances for people aged between 25 and 29, the average balance is $28,000. That shows there’s a lot of growth to happen over the next 30 to 40 years.

So, how can aspiring Aussies get to a $250,000 superannuation balance by 60?

Superannuation guarantee

The first and perhaps most important element of saving towards retirement is the mandatory contributions that businesses make for their staff.

Businesses are currently required to pay their employees 12% of their wage into super. The required amount used to be less than 10% of wages, but now it’s 12%.

Let’s imagine someone earns $50,000 per year, which is close to the minimum wage on an annualised basis. That means that person would receive $6,000 of superannuation contributions over 12 months (minus the superannuation tax of 15% on contributions).

Excluding inflation effects, that would be net contributions of $51,000 per decade. Three decades of contributions would be $153,000. Of course, over time, people may get promoted or upskill, leading to a sizeable increase in their earnings and superannuation contributions.

However, plenty of readers aren’t earning just the minimum wage, so their annual superannuation contribution would be higher and help build towards $250,000 faster. For some higher earners, the superannuation guarantee contributions may be all they need to reach a large figure, perhaps beyond what the average superannuation balance of a 60-year-old is.

Aussie investors can do a few things to grow their superannuation balance faster than the bare minimum.  

Invest in growth assets

Superannuation allows Australians to invest in a variety of assets. Over the long term, some asset classes have a better track record than others.

For me, as someone who is decades away from accessing my superannuation, I think it’s better to invest significantly (entirely, in my case) in ‘growth’ assets in superannuation. Shares are a lot more appealing to me than cash.

Cash and bond returns are significantly hampered by inflation, so the ‘real’ return is even less attractive.

I’m choosing to invest in international shares and great ASX shares in my superannuation. Ones that I believe will help grow my retirement balance by around 10% (or more) per year on average over the long term.

I mentioned before that someone earning a full-time minimum wage may contribute a net figure of $51,000 per decade to their superannuation. If that $51,000 grows by 8% per year, $51,000 doubles to more than $100,000 in approximately nine years. After another nine years, that original $51,000 could be worth around $200,000. And so on.

In conclusion, investing in growth assets and leaving them alone for decades can do some heavy lifting for growing a superannuation balance towards $250,000, or significantly more.

Make additional contributions

For people who have enough income to cover their essential spending, they can make additional salary sacrifice contributions out of their wage called reportable employer superannuation contributions (RESC), up to a certain dollar amount each year. This is a tax-efficient way to do it. It will likely need to be mentioned on the tax return.

Aussies can also make annual after-tax contributions to their superannuation, up to a certain (large) dollar figure, before being subject to extra tax. According to the Australian Taxation Office, the non-concessional contributions cap is $130,000 for FY27, up from $120,000 in FY26.

There are also a number of other, smaller, things that Australians can do, such as spouse super contributions to a low-earning spouse to boost their balance – this comes with a tax offset.

It’d be a good idea to ask a financial advisor what the current limits are and what the benefits are for each of these ideas.

Foolish takeaway

When you combine many years of superannuation contributions and investing, I think many Australians can reach the average superannuation balance of a 60-year-old. It just takes time, compounding, and choosing the right investments.

The post How almost any Australian can reach the average superannuation balance of a 60-year-old appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.