Alcon (ALC) Competitors

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) and Alcon (NYSE:ALC) are both large-cap medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, community ranking, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, earnings, media sentiment and risk.

Is HCA or ALC more profitable?

Alcon has a net margin of 11.89% compared to HCA Healthcare's net margin of 8.16%. HCA Healthcare's return on equity of 586.47% beat Alcon's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
HCA Healthcare	8.16%	586.47%	9.93%
Alcon	11.89%	7.17%	5.03%

Is HCA or ALC a better dividend stock?

HCA Healthcare pays an annual dividend of $2.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Alcon pays an annual dividend of $0.26 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. HCA Healthcare pays out 12.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Alcon pays out 11.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. HCA Healthcare has increased its dividend for 6 consecutive years and Alcon has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years. HCA Healthcare is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Does the media favor HCA or ALC?

In the previous week, HCA Healthcare had 18 more articles in the media than Alcon. MarketBeat recorded 23 mentions for HCA Healthcare and 5 mentions for Alcon. HCA Healthcare's average media sentiment score of 0.90 beat Alcon's score of 0.35 indicating that HCA Healthcare is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
HCA Healthcare	13 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Alcon	1 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of HCA or ALC?

62.7% of HCA Healthcare shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 53.9% of Alcon shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.3% of HCA Healthcare shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of Alcon shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Do analysts recommend HCA or ALC?

HCA Healthcare presently has a consensus target price of $392.47, indicating a potential upside of 6.88%. Alcon has a consensus target price of $106.13, indicating a potential upside of 19.76%. Given Alcon's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Alcon is more favorable than HCA Healthcare.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
HCA Healthcare	0 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	11 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.75
Alcon	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.80

Does the MarketBeat Community favor HCA or ALC?

HCA Healthcare received 1030 more outperform votes than Alcon when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 77.15% of users gave HCA Healthcare an outperform vote while only 63.58% of users gave Alcon an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
HCA Healthcare	Outperform Votes 1236 77.15%	Underperform Votes 366 22.85%
Alcon	Outperform Votes 206 63.58%	Underperform Votes 118 36.42%

Which has more volatility and risk, HCA or ALC?

HCA Healthcare has a beta of 1.49, suggesting that its share price is 49% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Alcon has a beta of 0.95, suggesting that its share price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, HCA or ALC?

HCA Healthcare has higher revenue and earnings than Alcon. HCA Healthcare is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Alcon, 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
HCA Healthcare	$71.59B	1.23	$5.76B	$22.49	16.33
Alcon	$9.93B	4.40	$974M	$2.25	39.38

Summary

HCA Healthcare beats Alcon on 15 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.