Chemed (CHE) Competitors

Chemed (NYSE:CHE) and Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) are both medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, community ranking, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, media sentiment, valuation, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Do analysts recommend CHE or LH?

Chemed currently has a consensus price target of $674.00, indicating a potential upside of 20.04%. Laboratory Co. of America has a consensus price target of $270.62, indicating a potential upside of 11.91%. Given Chemed's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Chemed is more favorable than Laboratory Co. of America.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Chemed	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Laboratory Co. of America	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	11 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.87

Does the media favor CHE or LH?

In the previous week, Chemed had 4 more articles in the media than Laboratory Co. of America. MarketBeat recorded 23 mentions for Chemed and 19 mentions for Laboratory Co. of America. Laboratory Co. of America's average media sentiment score of 1.45 beat Chemed's score of 1.12 indicating that Laboratory Co. of America is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Chemed	13 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Laboratory Co. of America	16 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, CHE or LH?

Laboratory Co. of America has higher revenue and earnings than Chemed. Chemed 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
Chemed	$2.49B	3.30	$272.51M	$20.53	27.35
Laboratory Co. of America	$13.18B	1.54	$746M	$8.65	27.96

Is CHE or LH more profitable?

Chemed has a net margin of 12.69% compared to Laboratory Co. of America's net margin of 5.73%. Chemed's return on equity of 27.86% beat Laboratory Co. of America's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Chemed	12.69%	27.86%	19.12%
Laboratory Co. of America	5.73%	15.29%	7.01%

Is CHE or LH a better dividend stock?

Chemed pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. Laboratory Co. of America pays an annual dividend of $2.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Chemed pays out 9.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Laboratory Co. of America pays out 33.3% 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. Chemed has raised its dividend for 16 consecutive years.

Do institutionals and insiders have more ownership in CHE or LH?

95.8% of Chemed shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.9% of Laboratory Co. of America shares are held by institutional investors. 3.3% of Chemed shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of Laboratory Co. of America shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more volatility & risk, CHE or LH?

Chemed has a beta of 0.59, indicating that its stock price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Laboratory Co. of America has a beta of 0.82, indicating that its stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer CHE or LH?

Laboratory Co. of America received 293 more outperform votes than Chemed when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 63.89% of users gave Laboratory Co. of America an outperform vote while only 63.57% of users gave Chemed an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Chemed	Outperform Votes 335 63.57%	Underperform Votes 192 36.43%
Laboratory Co. of America	Outperform Votes 628 63.89%	Underperform Votes 355 36.11%

Summary

Chemed beats Laboratory Co. of America on 12 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.