Chemed (CHE) Competitors

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

Which has higher earnings and valuation, LH or CHE?

Laboratory Co. of America has higher revenue and earnings than Chemed. Chemed 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	1.61	$746M	$8.82	28.33
Chemed	$2.26B	3.62	$272.51M	$19.79	27.53

Is LH or CHE more profitable?

Chemed has a net margin of 12.69% compared to Laboratory Co. of America's net margin of 5.73%. Chemed's return on equity of 27.86% 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%
Chemed	12.69%	27.86%	19.12%

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in LH or CHE?

95.9% of Laboratory Co. of America shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.9% of Chemed shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of Laboratory Co. of America shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.3% of Chemed shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in LH or CHE?

Laboratory Co. of America received 290 more outperform votes than Chemed when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 63.99% of users gave Laboratory Co. of America an outperform vote while only 63.48% of users gave Chemed an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Laboratory Co. of America	Outperform Votes 622 63.99%	Underperform Votes 350 36.01%
Chemed	Outperform Votes 332 63.48%	Underperform Votes 191 36.52%

Which has more risk and volatility, LH or CHE?

Laboratory Co. of America has a beta of 1.07, meaning that its stock price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Chemed has a beta of 0.48, meaning that its stock price is 52% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media refer more to LH or CHE?

In the previous week, Laboratory Co. of America had 5 more articles in the media than Chemed. MarketBeat recorded 15 mentions for Laboratory Co. of America and 10 mentions for Chemed. Laboratory Co. of America's average media sentiment score of 1.19 beat Chemed's score of 1.15 indicating that Laboratory Co. of America is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Laboratory Co. of America	12 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Chemed	8 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is LH or CHE a better dividend stock?

Laboratory Co. of America pays an annual dividend of $2.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Chemed pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. Laboratory Co. of America pays out 32.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Chemed pays out 10.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Chemed has increased its dividend for 16 consecutive years.

Do analysts prefer LH or CHE?

Laboratory Co. of America currently has a consensus price target of $265.31, suggesting a potential upside of 6.18%. Chemed has a consensus price target of $641.50, suggesting a potential upside of 17.76%. Given Chemed's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Chemed is more favorable than Laboratory Co. of America.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Laboratory Co. of America	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	12 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.88
Chemed	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Summary

Laboratory Co. of America beats Chemed on 12 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.