Providence Service (PRSC) Competitors

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) and Providence Service (NASDAQ:PRSC) are both medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, valuation, risk, institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, community ranking and media sentiment.

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, LH or PRSC?

Laboratory Co. of America has higher revenue and earnings than Providence Service. Providence Service is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Laboratory Co. of America, 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
Laboratory Co. of America	$13.18B	1.66	$746M	$8.65	30.15
Providence Service	$1.51B	0.03	$970K	$1.65	1.77

Do analysts prefer LH or PRSC?

Laboratory Co. of America presently has a consensus target price of $274.00, indicating a potential upside of 5.05%. Given Laboratory Co. of America's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Laboratory Co. of America is more favorable than Providence Service.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Laboratory Co. of America	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.86
Providence Service	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00

Does the media refer more to LH or PRSC?

In the previous week, Laboratory Co. of America had 14 more articles in the media than Providence Service. MarketBeat recorded 14 mentions for Laboratory Co. of America and 0 mentions for Providence Service. Laboratory Co. of America's average media sentiment score of 1.16 beat Providence Service's score of 0.00 indicating that Laboratory Co. of America is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Laboratory Co. of America	Positive
Providence Service	Neutral

Is LH or PRSC more profitable?

Laboratory Co. of America has a net margin of 5.73% compared to Providence Service's net margin of 0.23%. Providence Service's return on equity of 17.59% beat Laboratory Co. of America's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Laboratory Co. of America	5.73%	15.29%	7.01%
Providence Service	0.23%	17.59%	8.74%

Do institutionals and insiders believe in LH or PRSC?

95.9% of Laboratory Co. of America shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.8% of Laboratory Co. of America shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 7.5% of Providence Service shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor LH or PRSC?

Laboratory Co. of America received 353 more outperform votes than Providence Service when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 65.71% of users gave Providence Service an outperform vote while only 63.92% of users gave Laboratory Co. of America an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Laboratory Co. of America	Outperform Votes 629 63.92%	Underperform Votes 355 36.08%
Providence Service	Outperform Votes 276 65.71%	Underperform Votes 144 34.29%

Which has more risk and volatility, LH or PRSC?

Laboratory Co. of America has a beta of 0.81, meaning that its stock price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Providence Service has a beta of 0.84, meaning that its stock price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Laboratory Co. of America beats Providence Service on 14 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.