Alcon (ALC) Competitors

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

Do analysts rate ALC or DXCM?

Alcon presently has a consensus target price of $106.13, suggesting a potential upside of 21.69%. DexCom has a consensus target price of $99.60, suggesting a potential upside of 18.53%. Given Alcon's higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Alcon is more favorable than DexCom.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Alcon	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.80
DexCom	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	16 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.91

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of ALC or DXCM?

53.9% of Alcon shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.8% of DexCom shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of DexCom shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has better earnings & valuation, ALC or DXCM?

Alcon has higher revenue and earnings than DexCom. Alcon is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than DexCom, 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
Alcon	$9.91B	4.34	$1.02B	$2.25	38.76
DexCom	$4.03B	8.17	$576.20M	$1.34	62.71

Is ALC or DXCM more profitable?

DexCom has a net margin of 12.90% compared to Alcon's net margin of 11.28%. DexCom's return on equity of 30.05% beat Alcon's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Alcon	11.28%	6.95%	4.92%
DexCom	12.90%	30.05%	10.00%

Does the media prefer ALC or DXCM?

In the previous week, DexCom had 23 more articles in the media than Alcon. MarketBeat recorded 25 mentions for DexCom and 2 mentions for Alcon. DexCom's average media sentiment score of 0.92 beat Alcon's score of 0.12 indicating that DexCom is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Alcon	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
DexCom	12 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk and volatility, ALC or DXCM?

Alcon has a beta of 0.95, indicating that its stock price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, DexCom has a beta of 1.44, indicating that its stock price is 44% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

DexCom beats Alcon on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.