Select Medical (SEM) Competitors

Select Medical (NYSE:SEM) and The Ensign Group (NASDAQ:ENSG) are both mid-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, community ranking, valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, earnings and profitability.

Do analysts prefer SEM or ENSG?

Select Medical currently has a consensus target price of $27.25, suggesting a potential upside of 59.60%. The Ensign Group has a consensus target price of $165.17, suggesting a potential upside of 28.59%. Given Select Medical's higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Select Medical is more favorable than The Ensign Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Select Medical	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.75
The Ensign Group	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.83

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, SEM or ENSG?

The Ensign Group has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Select Medical. Select Medical is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than The Ensign Group, 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
Select Medical	$5.19B	0.42	$243.49M	$1.65	10.35
The Ensign Group	$4.26B	1.73	$297.97M	$5.11	25.14

Is SEM or ENSG more profitable?

The Ensign Group has a net margin of 6.99% compared to Select Medical's net margin of 3.23%. The Ensign Group's return on equity of 17.07% beat Select Medical's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Select Medical	3.23%	14.04%	3.32%
The Ensign Group	6.99%	17.07%	6.47%

Which has more volatility & risk, SEM or ENSG?

Select Medical has a beta of 1.56, suggesting that its share price is 56% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, The Ensign Group has a beta of 0.98, suggesting that its share price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer SEM or ENSG?

The Ensign Group received 19 more outperform votes than Select Medical when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 66.18% of users gave The Ensign Group an outperform vote while only 58.09% of users gave Select Medical an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Select Medical	Outperform Votes 341 58.09%	Underperform Votes 246 41.91%
The Ensign Group	Outperform Votes 360 66.18%	Underperform Votes 184 33.82%

Is SEM or ENSG a better dividend stock?

Select Medical pays an annual dividend of $0.25 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. The Ensign Group pays an annual dividend of $0.25 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. Select Medical pays out 15.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. The Ensign Group pays out 4.9% 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. The Ensign Group has raised its dividend for 18 consecutive years.

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of SEM or ENSG?

89.5% of Select Medical shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.1% of The Ensign Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 11.6% of Select Medical shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 3.9% of The Ensign Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Does the media prefer SEM or ENSG?

In the previous week, The Ensign Group had 15 more articles in the media than Select Medical. MarketBeat recorded 18 mentions for The Ensign Group and 3 mentions for Select Medical. The Ensign Group's average media sentiment score of 1.42 beat Select Medical's score of 0.95 indicating that The Ensign Group is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Select Medical	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
The Ensign Group	15 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

The Ensign Group beats Select Medical on 16 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.