Select Medical (SEM) Competitors

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

Does the media favor EHC or SEM?

In the previous week, Encompass Health and Encompass Health both had 6 articles in the media. Encompass Health's average media sentiment score of 1.20 beat Select Medical's score of 0.86 indicating that Encompass Health is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Encompass Health	4 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Select Medical	3 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has stronger earnings and valuation, EHC or SEM?

Encompass Health has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Select Medical. Select Medical is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Encompass Health, 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
Encompass Health	$5.22B	1.82	$352M	$4.14	22.81
Select Medical	$6.97B	0.35	$243.49M	$2.14	8.91

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in EHC or SEM?

97.3% of Encompass Health shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.5% of Select Medical shares are held by institutional investors. 2.1% of Encompass Health shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 19.1% of Select Medical shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer EHC or SEM?

Encompass Health received 170 more outperform votes than Select Medical when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 72.60% of users gave Encompass Health an outperform vote while only 58.13% of users gave Select Medical an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Encompass Health	Outperform Votes 506 72.60%	Underperform Votes 191 27.40%
Select Medical	Outperform Votes 336 58.13%	Underperform Votes 242 41.87%

Do analysts rate EHC or SEM?

Encompass Health currently has a consensus price target of $107.11, indicating a potential upside of 13.41%. Select Medical has a consensus price target of $45.67, indicating a potential upside of 139.59%. Given Select Medical's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Select Medical is more favorable than Encompass Health.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Encompass Health	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.18
Select Medical	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67

Is EHC or SEM more profitable?

Encompass Health has a net margin of 8.10% compared to Select Medical's net margin of 3.97%. Encompass Health's return on equity of 17.60% beat Select Medical's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Encompass Health	8.10%	17.60%	6.83%
Select Medical	3.97%	15.99%	3.65%

Which has more volatility and risk, EHC or SEM?

Encompass Health has a beta of 0.86, indicating that its stock price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Select Medical has a beta of 1.43, indicating that its stock price is 43% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is EHC or SEM a better dividend stock?

Encompass Health pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Select Medical pays an annual dividend of $0.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Encompass Health pays out 16.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Select Medical pays out 23.4% 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.

Summary

Encompass Health beats Select Medical on 15 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.