Alcon (ALC) Competitors $96.15 -1.46 (-1.50%) Closing price 05/1/2025 03:59 PM EasternExtended Trading$98.83 +2.68 (+2.79%) As of 08:45 AM Eastern Extended trading is trading that happens on electronic markets outside of regular trading hours. This is a fair market value extended hours price provided by Polygon.io. Learn more. Add Compare Share Share Competitors Stock AnalysisAnalyst ForecastsChartCompetitorsDividendEarningsFinancialsHeadlinesInsider TradesOptions ChainOwnershipSEC FilingsShort InterestTrendsBuy This Stock ALC vs. HCA, THC, UHS, EHC, ENSG, SEM, ACHC, BKD, USPH, and WOOFShould you be buying Alcon stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Alcon include HCA Healthcare (HCA), Tenet Healthcare (THC), Universal Health Services (UHS), Encompass Health (EHC), The Ensign Group (ENSG), Select Medical (SEM), Acadia Healthcare (ACHC), Brookdale Senior Living (BKD), U.S. Physical Therapy (USPH), and Petco Health and Wellness (WOOF). These companies are all part of the "health care facilities" industry. Alcon vs. HCA Healthcare Tenet Healthcare Universal Health Services Encompass Health The Ensign Group Select Medical Acadia Healthcare Brookdale Senior Living U.S. Physical Therapy Petco Health and Wellness Alcon (NYSE:ALC) and HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) are both large-cap medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their media sentiment, risk, valuation, profitability, community ranking, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings and institutional ownership. Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in ALC or HCA? 53.9% of Alcon shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 62.7% of HCA Healthcare shares are held by institutional investors. 1.5% of Alcon shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.3% of HCA Healthcare shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth. Is ALC or HCA 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 Alcon11.89% 7.17% 5.03% HCA Healthcare 8.16%586.47%9.93% Which has stronger earnings & valuation, ALC or HCA? 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. CompanyGross RevenuePrice/Sales RatioNet IncomeEarnings Per SharePrice/Earnings RatioAlcon$9.91B4.79$974M$2.0546.90HCA Healthcare$71.59B1.18$5.76B$22.4915.25 Is ALC or HCA a better dividend stock? Alcon pays an annual dividend of $0.26 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. HCA Healthcare pays an annual dividend of $2.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Alcon pays out 12.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. HCA Healthcare pays out 12.8% 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. Which has more risk and volatility, ALC or HCA? Alcon has a beta of 0.99, suggesting that its stock price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, HCA Healthcare has a beta of 1.48, suggesting that its stock price is 48% more volatile than the S&P 500. Does the media refer more to ALC or HCA? In the previous week, HCA Healthcare had 51 more articles in the media than Alcon. MarketBeat recorded 56 mentions for HCA Healthcare and 5 mentions for Alcon. HCA Healthcare's average media sentiment score of 0.90 beat Alcon's score of 0.10 indicating that HCA Healthcare is being referred to more favorably in the news media. Company Very Positive Positive Neutral Negative Very Negative Overall Sentiment Alcon 2 Very Positive mention(s) 0 Positive mention(s) 1 Neutral mention(s) 1 Negative mention(s) 0 Very Negative mention(s) Neutral HCA Healthcare 30 Very Positive mention(s) 3 Positive mention(s) 10 Neutral mention(s) 4 Negative mention(s) 1 Very Negative mention(s) Positive Does the MarketBeat Community prefer ALC or HCA? HCA Healthcare received 1031 more outperform votes than Alcon when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 77.22% of users gave HCA Healthcare an outperform vote while only 63.64% of users gave Alcon an outperform vote. CompanyUnderperformOutperformAlconOutperform Votes20363.64% Underperform Votes11636.36% HCA HealthcareOutperform Votes123477.22% Underperform Votes36422.78% Do analysts prefer ALC or HCA? Alcon currently has a consensus target price of $106.22, indicating a potential upside of 10.48%. HCA Healthcare has a consensus target price of $381.13, indicating a potential upside of 11.14%. Given HCA Healthcare's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe HCA Healthcare is more favorable than Alcon.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) 0 Strong Buy rating(s) 2.71HCA Healthcare 1 Sell rating(s) 6 Hold rating(s) 11 Buy rating(s) 1 Strong Buy rating(s) 2.63 SummaryHCA Healthcare beats Alcon on 15 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks. Get Alcon News Delivered to You Automatically Sign up to receive the latest news and ratings for ALC and its competitors with MarketBeat's FREE daily newsletter. Email Address New MarketBeat Followers Over TimeWhat are MarkeBeat Followers?This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding {thisCompany.Symbol} and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period. Skip ChartMedia Sentiment Over TimeWhat is Media Sentiment?This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.Skip Chart ALC vs. The Competition Export to ExcelMetricAlconOphthalmic goods IndustryMedical SectorNYSE ExchangeMarket Cap$47.43B$11.01B$5.53B$18.96BDividend Yield0.28%0.96%5.11%4.01%P/E Ratio41.0935.6922.5132.87Price / Sales4.792.81397.6228.03Price / Cash17.2314.5338.1817.52Price / Book2.302.386.734.47Net Income$974M$224.27M$3.22B$1.02B7 Day Performance1.27%-0.84%1.38%0.59%1 Month Performance3.88%-9.77%2.79%-3.54%1 Year Performance22.59%-20.62%15.41%3.80% Alcon Competitors List Export to ExcelCompanyMarketRankShare PriceAnalysts' Price Target1Y Price PerformanceMarket CapRevenueP/E RatioEmployee CountIndicator(s)ALCAlcon2.9283 of 5 stars$96.15-1.5%$106.22+10.5%+22.4%$47.43B$9.91B41.0925,200Short Interest ↑HCAHCA Healthcare4.7231 of 5 stars$317.93-5.1%$381.67+20.0%+10.8%$78.28B$70.60B14.47294,000Earnings ReportDividend AnnouncementShort Interest ↓Analyst RevisionTHCTenet Healthcare4.9005 of 5 stars$110.60-9.2%$165.44+49.6%+25.4%$10.44B$20.67B3.43102,400Earnings ReportAnalyst ForecastShort Interest ↓Analyst RevisionUHSUniversal Health Services4.9993 of 5 stars$156.98-10.2%$224.92+43.3%+2.7%$10.20B$15.83B10.4493,800Earnings ReportAnalyst ForecastPositive NewsEHCEncompass Health4.4083 of 5 stars$96.19-6.9%$107.67+11.9%+40.0%$9.69B$5.37B21.5735,000Dividend AnnouncementInsider TradeAnalyst RevisionPositive NewsHigh Trading VolumeENSGThe Ensign Group4.8872 of 5 stars$119.93-6.3%$165.17+37.7%+7.2%$6.89B$4.26B23.4729,900Earnings ReportSEMSelect Medical4.9879 of 5 stars$15.49-5.3%$26.80+73.0%-34.9%$2.00B$5.19B9.3953,800Earnings ReportDividend AnnouncementInsider TradeBuyback AnnouncementNews CoverageACHCAcadia Healthcare4.6928 of 5 stars$21.49-10.1%$50.39+134.5%-68.8%$1.98B$3.15B7.0523,000Short Interest ↓Positive NewsHigh Trading VolumeBKDBrookdale Senior Living3.8506 of 5 stars$5.87-5.9%$7.50+27.8%-5.9%$1.18B$3.13B-6.6036,000Upcoming EarningsUSPHU.S. Physical Therapy3.3992 of 5 stars$66.58-1.3%$109.00+63.7%-29.6%$1.01B$671.35M70.836,140Upcoming EarningsWOOFPetco Health and Wellness3.7108 of 5 stars$3.09flat$4.11+33.0%+92.9%$973.74M$6.12B-7.7328,500News CoveragePositive News Related Companies and Tools Related Companies HCA Healthcare Competitors Tenet Healthcare Competitors Universal Health Services Competitors Encompass Health Competitors The Ensign Group Competitors Select Medical Competitors Acadia Healthcare Competitors Brookdale Senior Living Competitors U.S. Physical Therapy Competitors Petco Health and Wellness Competitors Top 10 Stock Comparisons Semiconductor Stocks Artificial Intelligence Stocks Growth Stocks Magnificent Seven Stocks Pharmaceutical Stocks Ecommerce Stocks Bitcoin Stocks Meme Stocks Cryptocurrency Stocks Cybersecurity Stocks This page (NYSE:ALC) was last updated on 5/2/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff From Our PartnersHere’s How to Claim Your Stake in Elon’s Private Company, xAII predict this single breakthrough could make Elon the world’s first trillionaire — and mint more new milliona...Brownstone Research | SponsoredThe next market Nvidia is positioned to dominate …Robots — built by Nvidia. 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