Henry Schein (HSIC) Competitors

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

Which has stronger 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	$6.47B	0.44	$207.56M	$2.19	13.47
Henry Schein	$12.65B	0.75	$538M	$3.40	21.50

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of PDCO or HSIC?

79.2% of Patterson Companies shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.3% of Henry Schein shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.5% of Patterson Companies shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of Henry Schein shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in PDCO or HSIC?

Henry Schein received 2 more outperform votes than Patterson Companies when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 52.84% of users gave Patterson Companies an outperform vote while only 51.67% of users gave Henry Schein an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Patterson Companies	Outperform Votes 354 52.84%	Underperform Votes 316 47.16%
Henry Schein	Outperform Votes 356 51.67%	Underperform Votes 333 48.33%

Does the media favor PDCO or HSIC?

In the previous week, Patterson Companies had 16 more articles in the media than Henry Schein. MarketBeat recorded 20 mentions for Patterson Companies and 4 mentions for Henry Schein. Patterson Companies' average media sentiment score of 1.68 beat Henry Schein's score of -0.01 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	1 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	9 Neutral mention(s)	8 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Henry Schein	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Do analysts recommend PDCO or HSIC?

Patterson Companies presently has a consensus target price of $35.83, indicating a potential upside of 21.43%. Henry Schein has a consensus target price of $84.00, indicating a potential upside of 14.90%. Given Henry Schein's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Patterson Companies is more favorable than Henry Schein.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Patterson Companies	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67
Henry Schein	1 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.29

Which has more volatility and risk, PDCO or HSIC?

Patterson Companies has a beta of 1.32, indicating that its stock price is 32% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Henry Schein has a beta of 0.83, indicating that its stock price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is PDCO or HSIC more profitable?

Henry Schein has a net margin of 3.64% compared to Henry Schein's net margin of 3.28%. Henry Schein's return on equity of 22.24% beat Patterson Companies' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Patterson Companies	3.28%	22.24%	8.40%
Henry Schein	3.64%	15.76%	7.53%

Summary

Henry Schein beats Patterson Companies on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.