DaVita (DVA) Competitors

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

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer LH or DVA?

Laboratory Co. of America received 123 more outperform votes than DaVita when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 64.08% of users gave Laboratory Co. of America an outperform vote while only 61.46% of users gave DaVita an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Laboratory Co. of America	Outperform Votes 619 64.08%	Underperform Votes 347 35.92%
DaVita	Outperform Votes 496 61.46%	Underperform Votes 311 38.54%

Which has higher earnings and valuation, LH or DVA?

DaVita has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Laboratory Co. of America. DaVita 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	$12.71B	1.54	$418M	$5.17	45.37
DaVita	$12.67B	1.05	$691.53M	$9.27	17.47

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of LH or DVA?

95.9% of Laboratory Co. of America shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.1% of DaVita shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of Laboratory Co. of America shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.0% of DaVita shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is LH or DVA more profitable?

DaVita has a net margin of 6.53% compared to Laboratory Co. of America's net margin of 3.43%. DaVita's return on equity of 88.18% beat Laboratory Co. of America's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Laboratory Co. of America	3.43%	15.27%	7.13%
DaVita	6.53%	88.18%	4.88%

Which has more volatility and risk, LH or DVA?

Laboratory Co. of America has a beta of 1.06, indicating that its share price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, DaVita has a beta of 0.92, indicating that its share price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts recommend LH or DVA?

Laboratory Co. of America currently has a consensus price target of $260.54, indicating a potential upside of 11.08%. DaVita has a consensus price target of $161.80, indicating a potential downside of 0.07%. Given Laboratory Co. of America's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Laboratory Co. of America is more favorable than DaVita.

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
DaVita	1 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Does the media prefer LH or DVA?

In the previous week, Laboratory Co. of America had 15 more articles in the media than DaVita. MarketBeat recorded 18 mentions for Laboratory Co. of America and 3 mentions for DaVita. DaVita's average media sentiment score of 0.42 beat Laboratory Co. of America's score of 0.10 indicating that DaVita is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Laboratory Co. of America	3 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
DaVita	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Summary

Laboratory Co. of America beats DaVita on 13 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.