Select Medical (SEM) Competitors

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

Is SEM or EHC more profitable?

Encompass Health has a net margin of 7.60% compared to Select Medical's net margin of 3.97%. Select Medical's return on equity of 18.11% beat Encompass Health's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Select Medical	3.97%	18.11%	3.64%
Encompass Health	7.60%	18.01%	6.55%

Is SEM or EHC a better dividend stock?

Select Medical pays an annual dividend of $0.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Encompass Health pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Select Medical pays out 23.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Encompass Health pays out 16.2% 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.

Which has more volatility and risk, SEM or EHC?

Select Medical has a beta of 1.38, indicating that its stock price is 38% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Encompass Health has a beta of 0.92, indicating that its stock price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals & insiders believe in SEM or EHC?

89.5% of Select Medical shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.3% of Encompass Health shares are held by institutional investors. 17.5% of Select Medical shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.1% of Encompass Health shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has higher valuation & earnings, SEM or EHC?

Encompass Health has lower revenue, but higher earnings 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
Select Medical	$6.66B	0.65	$243.49M	$2.10	15.88
Encompass Health	$4.80B	1.77	$352M	$3.70	22.82

Does the media favor SEM or EHC?

In the previous week, Encompass Health had 10 more articles in the media than Select Medical. MarketBeat recorded 15 mentions for Encompass Health and 5 mentions for Select Medical. Encompass Health's average media sentiment score of 0.80 beat Select Medical's score of 0.45 indicating that Encompass Health 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)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Encompass Health	7 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer SEM or EHC?

Encompass Health received 160 more outperform votes than Select Medical when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 71.87% of users gave Encompass Health an outperform vote while only 57.85% of users gave Select Medical an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Select Medical	Outperform Votes 328 57.85%	Underperform Votes 239 42.15%
Encompass Health	Outperform Votes 488 71.87%	Underperform Votes 191 28.13%

Do analysts recommend SEM or EHC?

Select Medical currently has a consensus price target of $34.25, indicating a potential upside of 3.22%. Encompass Health has a consensus price target of $92.00, indicating a potential upside of 9.16%. Given Encompass Health's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Encompass Health is more favorable than Select Medical.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Select Medical	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Encompass Health	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.13

Summary

Encompass Health beats Select Medical on 16 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.