Chemed (CHE) Competitors

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

Which has more risk and volatility, CHE or LH?

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

Does the MarketBeat Community favor CHE or LH?

Laboratory Co. of America received 284 more outperform votes than Chemed when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 63.93% of users gave Laboratory Co. of America an outperform vote while only 63.53% of users gave Chemed an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Chemed	Outperform Votes 331 63.53%	Underperform Votes 190 36.47%
Laboratory Co. of America	Outperform Votes 615 63.93%	Underperform Votes 347 36.07%

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 1.2%. 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.

Do analysts recommend CHE or LH?

Chemed presently has a consensus price target of $641.50, indicating a potential upside of 14.82%. Laboratory Co. of America has a consensus price target of $255.92, indicating a potential upside of 7.53%. Given Chemed's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research 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)	10 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.80

Which has stronger 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	$2.26B	3.71	$272.51M	$19.79	28.23
Laboratory Co. of America	$12.71B	1.57	$418M	$5.17	46.03

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%

Does the media prefer CHE or LH?

In the previous week, Laboratory Co. of America had 11 more articles in the media than Chemed. MarketBeat recorded 15 mentions for Laboratory Co. of America and 4 mentions for Chemed. Chemed's average media sentiment score of 1.76 beat Laboratory Co. of America's score of 1.21 indicating that Chemed is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Chemed	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Laboratory Co. of America	11 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do institutionals and insiders believe in CHE or LH?

95.9% of Chemed shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.9% of Laboratory Co. of America shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.3% of Chemed shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Laboratory Co. of America shares are owned 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

Chemed and Laboratory Co. of America tied by winning 11 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.