Chemed (CHE) Competitors

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

Do analysts prefer CHE or LH?

Chemed currently has a consensus target price of $641.50, indicating a potential upside of 22.62%. Laboratory Co. of America has a consensus target price of $258.62, indicating a potential upside of 13.13%. 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
Chemed	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Laboratory Co. of America	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	11 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.81

Is CHE or LH a better dividend stock?

Chemed pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. Laboratory Co. of America pays an annual dividend of $2.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Chemed pays out 10.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Laboratory Co. of America pays out 55.7% 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 raised its dividend for 16 consecutive years.

Which has more risk and volatility, CHE or LH?

Chemed has a beta of 0.46, suggesting that its share price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Laboratory Co. of America has a beta of 1.05, suggesting that its share price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, CHE or LH?

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
Chemed	$2.38B	3.31	$272.51M	$19.79	26.44
Laboratory Co. of America	$12.71B	1.50	$418M	$5.17	44.22

Does the media refer more to CHE or LH?

In the previous week, Chemed and Chemed both had 8 articles in the media. Laboratory Co. of America's average media sentiment score of 1.23 beat Chemed's score of 1.18 indicating that Laboratory Co. of America is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Chemed	6 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Laboratory Co. of America	5 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community favor CHE or LH?

Laboratory Co. of America received 286 more outperform votes than Chemed when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 64.04% of users gave Laboratory Co. of America an outperform vote while only 63.48% of users gave Chemed an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Chemed	Outperform Votes 332 63.48%	Underperform Votes 191 36.52%
Laboratory Co. of America	Outperform Votes 618 64.04%	Underperform Votes 347 35.96%

Is CHE or LH more profitable?

Chemed has a net margin of 12.69% compared to Laboratory Co. of America's net margin of 3.43%. 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
Chemed	12.69%	27.86%	19.12%
Laboratory Co. of America	3.43%	15.27%	7.13%

Do insiders and institutionals believe in CHE or LH?

95.8% of Chemed shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.9% of Laboratory Co. of America shares are held by institutional investors. 3.3% of Chemed shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Laboratory Co. of America shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Laboratory Co. of America beats Chemed on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.