Henry Schein (HSIC) Competitors

Patterson Companies (NASDAQ:PDCO) and Henry Schein (NASDAQ:HSIC) are both mid-cap medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, community ranking, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, profitability, media sentiment and valuation.

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in PDCO or HSIC?

85.4% of Patterson Companies shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.6% of Henry Schein shares are held by institutional investors. 1.9% of Patterson Companies shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of Henry Schein shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Does the media prefer PDCO or HSIC?

In the previous week, Henry Schein had 22 more articles in the media than Patterson Companies. MarketBeat recorded 24 mentions for Henry Schein and 2 mentions for Patterson Companies. Henry Schein's average media sentiment score of 1.15 beat Patterson Companies' score of -0.82 indicating that Henry Schein is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Patterson Companies	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	2 Very Negative mention(s)	Negative
Henry Schein	15 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	8 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in PDCO or HSIC?

Henry Schein received 20 more outperform votes than Patterson Companies when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 51.69% of users gave Henry Schein an outperform vote while only 49.86% of users gave Patterson Companies an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Patterson Companies	Outperform Votes 362 49.86%	Underperform Votes 364 50.14%
Henry Schein	Outperform Votes 382 51.69%	Underperform Votes 357 48.31%

Which has more volatility and risk, PDCO or HSIC?

Patterson Companies has a beta of 0.73, meaning that its stock price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Henry Schein has a beta of 0.87, meaning that its stock price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts rate PDCO or HSIC?

Patterson Companies presently has a consensus price target of $26.57, suggesting a potential downside of 15.19%. Henry Schein has a consensus price target of $79.30, suggesting a potential upside of 8.44%. Given Henry Schein's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Henry Schein is more favorable than Patterson Companies.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Patterson Companies	0 Sell rating(s)	10 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.09
Henry Schein	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.64

Which has higher earnings and valuation, PDCO or HSIC?

Henry Schein has higher revenue and earnings than Patterson Companies. Patterson Companies is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Henry Schein, 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
Patterson Companies	$6.51B	0.43	$185.93M	$1.54	20.34
Henry Schein	$12.67B	0.70	$416M	$3.20	22.85

Is PDCO or HSIC more profitable?

Henry Schein has a net margin of 2.51% compared to Patterson Companies' net margin of 2.37%. Patterson Companies' return on equity of 19.77% beat Henry Schein's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Patterson Companies	2.37%	19.77%	6.66%
Henry Schein	2.51%	12.90%	5.21%

Summary

Henry Schein beats Patterson Companies on 16 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.