Alcon (ALC) Competitors $87.52 -0.55 (-0.62%) Closing price 05/21/2025 03:59 PM EasternExtended Trading$87.35 -0.18 (-0.20%) As of 05:15 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, ACHC, SEM, 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), Acadia Healthcare (ACHC), Select Medical (SEM), 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 Acadia Healthcare Select Medical Brookdale Senior Living U.S. Physical Therapy Petco Health and Wellness 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 analyst recommendations, earnings, community ranking, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, profitability, media sentiment and valuation. Do analysts rate HCA or ALC? HCA Healthcare presently has a consensus price target of $381.13, suggesting a potential downside of 0.34%. Alcon has a consensus price target of $106.13, suggesting a potential upside of 21.25%. Given Alcon's stronger consensus rating and higher possible 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 1 Sell rating(s) 6 Hold rating(s) 11 Buy rating(s) 1 Strong Buy rating(s) 2.63Alcon 0 Sell rating(s) 4 Hold rating(s) 10 Buy rating(s) 0 Strong Buy rating(s) 2.71 Which has more risk and volatility, HCA or ALC? HCA Healthcare has a beta of 1.46, indicating that its stock price is 46% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Alcon has a beta of 1.06, indicating that its stock price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500. Do institutionals & 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 large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth. 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 Healthcare8.16% 586.47% 9.93% Alcon 11.89%7.17%5.03% Does the media prefer HCA or ALC? In the previous week, HCA Healthcare had 36 more articles in the media than Alcon. MarketBeat recorded 39 mentions for HCA Healthcare and 3 mentions for Alcon. HCA Healthcare's average media sentiment score of 1.17 beat Alcon's score of 0.30 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 27 Very Positive mention(s) 4 Positive mention(s) 6 Neutral mention(s) 1 Negative mention(s) 0 Very Negative mention(s) Positive Alcon 0 Very Positive mention(s) 2 Positive mention(s) 1 Neutral mention(s) 0 Negative mention(s) 0 Very Negative mention(s) Neutral Which has stronger earnings and valuation, 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. CompanyGross RevenuePrice/Sales RatioNet IncomeEarnings Per SharePrice/Earnings RatioHCA Healthcare$71.59B1.29$5.76B$22.4917.00Alcon$9.93B4.35$974M$2.2538.90 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 raised its dividend for 6 consecutive years and Alcon has raised 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 MarketBeat Community favor HCA or ALC? HCA Healthcare received 1029 more outperform votes than Alcon when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 77.22% of users gave HCA Healthcare an outperform vote while only 63.66% of users gave Alcon an outperform vote. CompanyUnderperformOutperformHCA HealthcareOutperform Votes123477.22% Underperform Votes36422.78% AlconOutperform Votes20563.66% Underperform Votes11736.34% SummaryHCA Healthcare beats Alcon on 15 of the 22 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$43.17B$10.58B$5.37B$19.41BDividend Yield0.28%0.96%5.22%3.83%P/E Ratio37.4034.1626.8434.23Price / Sales4.353.09392.3434.85Price / Cash17.2314.5338.2517.51Price / Book2.092.586.794.69Net Income$974M$224.27M$3.23B$1.02B7 Day Performance-0.30%2.67%1.53%-1.74%1 Month Performance-6.29%17.26%10.05%7.46%1 Year Performance-3.55%-18.31%16.71%3.96% Alcon Competitors List Export to ExcelCompanyMarketRankShare PriceAnalysts' Price Target1Y Price PerformanceMarket CapRevenueP/E RatioEmployee CountIndicator(s)ALCAlcon3.2758 of 5 stars$87.52-0.6%$106.13+21.3%-1.3%$43.17B$9.93B37.4025,200Analyst DowngradeHigh Trading VolumeHCAHCA Healthcare4.5727 of 5 stars$362.98+2.6%$381.13+5.0%+19.1%$87.32B$71.59B16.52294,000Positive NewsTHCTenet Healthcare4.4737 of 5 stars$154.60+3.9%$174.63+13.0%+24.9%$14.36B$20.52B4.80102,400UHSUniversal Health Services4.9682 of 5 stars$191.65+5.4%$224.77+17.3%+5.6%$12.46B$16.08B12.7493,800Positive NewsEHCEncompass Health4.7249 of 5 stars$116.88+0.4%$120.86+3.4%+39.6%$11.78B$5.51B26.2135,000Positive NewsInsider TradeENSGThe Ensign Group4.6757 of 5 stars$141.57+3.6%$163.50+15.5%+22.3%$8.14B$4.42B27.7029,900Positive NewsInsider TradeACHCAcadia Healthcare4.6393 of 5 stars$25.84+8.4%$50.39+95.0%-64.0%$2.38B$3.15B8.4723,000Analyst RevisionHigh Trading VolumeSEMSelect Medical5 of 5 stars$15.27+2.3%$26.00+70.3%-56.9%$1.96B$5.22B9.2553,800Positive NewsBKDBrookdale Senior Living3.2571 of 5 stars$6.85+0.1%$7.70+12.5%-4.8%$1.60B$3.16B-7.6936,000USPHU.S. Physical Therapy3.5305 of 5 stars$77.56+4.7%$109.00+40.5%-26.8%$1.18B$671.35M82.516,140Gap UpWOOFPetco Health and Wellness3.5816 of 5 stars$3.18+1.3%$4.11+29.2%+49.0%$1.00B$6.12B-7.9528,500News CoveragePositive NewsGap Down Related Companies and Tools Related Companies HCA Healthcare Competitors Tenet Healthcare Competitors Universal Health Services Competitors Encompass Health Competitors The Ensign Group Competitors Acadia Healthcare Competitors Select Medical 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 5/22/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff From Our PartnersJuly 2025 Rule Change to Impact Retirement InvestorsThere's a massive change from a new rule going into effect this July. 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