Providence Service (PRSC) Competitors

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) and Providence Service (NASDAQ:PRSC) are both medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, profitability, earnings, media sentiment, dividends, analyst recommendations, community ranking and institutional ownership.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor LH or PRSC?

Laboratory Co. of America received 348 more outperform votes than Providence Service when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 65.71% of users gave Providence Service an outperform vote while only 64.00% of users gave Laboratory Co. of America an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Laboratory Co. of America	Outperform Votes 624 64.00%	Underperform Votes 351 36.00%
Providence Service	Outperform Votes 276 65.71%	Underperform Votes 144 34.29%

Do analysts recommend LH or PRSC?

Laboratory Co. of America currently has a consensus price target of $269.92, suggesting a potential upside of 14.86%. Given Laboratory Co. of America's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Laboratory Co. of America is more favorable than Providence Service.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Laboratory Co. of America	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.86
Providence Service	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00

Is LH or PRSC more profitable?

Laboratory Co. of America has a net margin of 5.73% compared to Providence Service's net margin of 0.23%. Providence Service's return on equity of 17.59% beat Laboratory Co. of America's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Laboratory Co. of America	5.73%	15.29%	7.01%
Providence Service	0.23%	17.59%	8.74%

Which has better earnings and valuation, LH or PRSC?

Laboratory Co. of America has higher revenue and earnings than Providence Service. Providence Service is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Laboratory Co. of America, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Laboratory Co. of America	$13.01B	1.51	$746M	$8.82	26.64
Providence Service	$1.51B	0.01	$970K	$1.65	0.84

Does the media favor LH or PRSC?

In the previous week, Laboratory Co. of America had 27 more articles in the media than Providence Service. MarketBeat recorded 27 mentions for Laboratory Co. of America and 0 mentions for Providence Service. Laboratory Co. of America's average media sentiment score of 1.20 beat Providence Service's score of 0.00 indicating that Laboratory Co. of America is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Laboratory Co. of America	Positive
Providence Service	Neutral

Which has more risk & volatility, LH or PRSC?

Laboratory Co. of America has a beta of 1.12, indicating that its share price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Providence Service has a beta of 0.84, indicating that its share price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of LH or PRSC?

95.9% of Laboratory Co. of America shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of Laboratory Co. of America shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 7.5% of Providence Service shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Laboratory Co. of America beats Providence Service on 15 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.