Healthcare Services Group (HCSG) Competitors

Healthcare Services Group (NASDAQ:HCSG) and Unifirst (NYSE:UNF) are both diversified support services companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, profitability, media sentiment and institutional ownership.

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, HCSG or UNF?

Unifirst has higher revenue and earnings than Healthcare Services Group. Unifirst is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Healthcare Services 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
Healthcare Services Group	$1.72B	0.70	$39.47M	$0.14	117.64
Unifirst	$2.43B	1.24	$145.47M	$8.14	19.87

Is HCSG or UNF more profitable?

Unifirst has a net margin of 6.18% compared to Healthcare Services Group's net margin of 0.61%. Healthcare Services Group's return on equity of 11.74% beat Unifirst's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Healthcare Services Group	0.61%	11.74%	7.19%
Unifirst	6.18%	7.35%	5.78%

Does the media refer more to HCSG or UNF?

In the previous week, Unifirst had 5 more articles in the media than Healthcare Services Group. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for Unifirst and 2 mentions for Healthcare Services Group. Healthcare Services Group's average media sentiment score of 0.62 beat Unifirst's score of 0.61 indicating that Healthcare Services Group is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Healthcare Services Group	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Unifirst	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more volatility and risk, HCSG or UNF?

Healthcare Services Group has a beta of 0.7, suggesting that its share price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Unifirst has a beta of 0.86, suggesting that its share price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in HCSG or UNF?

98.0% of Healthcare Services Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.2% of Unifirst shares are held by institutional investors. 2.6% of Healthcare Services Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Unifirst 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.

Do analysts recommend HCSG or UNF?

Healthcare Services Group presently has a consensus price target of $16.25, indicating a potential downside of 1.34%. Unifirst has a consensus price target of $179.50, indicating a potential upside of 10.96%. Given Unifirst's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Unifirst is more favorable than Healthcare Services Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Healthcare Services Group	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Unifirst	2 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.60

Summary

Healthcare Services Group and Unifirst tied by winning 8 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.