Healthcare Services Group (HCSG) Competitors

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

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%

Which has more volatility and risk, HCSG or UNF?

Healthcare Services Group has a beta of 0.66, suggesting that its stock price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Unifirst has a beta of 0.86, suggesting that its stock price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500.

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

98.0% of Healthcare Services Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.2% of Unifirst shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.6% of Healthcare Services Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Unifirst shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

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	$1.77B	0.64	$39.47M	$0.14	112.25
Unifirst	$2.46B	1.35	$145.47M	$8.14	21.96

Does the media prefer HCSG or UNF?

In the previous week, Unifirst had 5 more articles in the media than Healthcare Services Group. MarketBeat recorded 8 mentions for Unifirst and 3 mentions for Healthcare Services Group. Unifirst's average media sentiment score of 1.42 beat Healthcare Services Group's score of 1.00 indicating that Unifirst is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Healthcare Services Group	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Unifirst	7 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts rate HCSG or UNF?

Healthcare Services Group currently has a consensus price target of $16.25, suggesting a potential upside of 3.40%. Unifirst has a consensus price target of $179.50, suggesting a potential upside of 0.42%. Given Healthcare Services Group's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Healthcare Services Group is more favorable than Unifirst.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Healthcare Services Group	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Unifirst	2 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.50

Is HCSG or UNF a better dividend stock?

Healthcare Services Group pays an annual dividend of $0.86 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.5%. Unifirst pays an annual dividend of $1.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Healthcare Services Group pays out 614.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Unifirst pays out 17.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Unifirst has increased its dividend for 7 consecutive years.

Summary

Healthcare Services Group and Unifirst tied by winning 10 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.