Chemed (CHE) Competitors

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

Which has more risk & volatility, CHE or DGX?

Chemed has a beta of 0.49, meaning that its share price is 51% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Quest Diagnostics has a beta of 0.78, meaning that its share price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has better earnings and valuation, CHE or DGX?

Quest Diagnostics has higher revenue and earnings than Chemed. Quest Diagnostics is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Chemed, 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	3.37	$272.51M	$20.53	27.92
Quest Diagnostics	$10.16B	1.95	$871M	$7.91	22.43

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer CHE or DGX?

Quest Diagnostics received 209 more outperform votes than Chemed when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 63.57% of users gave Chemed an outperform vote while only 49.14% of users gave Quest Diagnostics an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Chemed	Outperform Votes 335 63.57%	Underperform Votes 192 36.43%
Quest Diagnostics	Outperform Votes 544 49.14%	Underperform Votes 563 50.86%

Is CHE or DGX a better dividend stock?

Chemed pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. Quest Diagnostics pays an annual dividend of $3.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Chemed pays out 9.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Quest Diagnostics pays out 40.5% 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 increased its dividend for 16 consecutive years and Quest Diagnostics has increased its dividend for 14 consecutive years.

Does the media refer more to CHE or DGX?

In the previous week, Quest Diagnostics had 10 more articles in the media than Chemed. MarketBeat recorded 29 mentions for Quest Diagnostics and 19 mentions for Chemed. Chemed's average media sentiment score of 1.07 beat Quest Diagnostics' score of 0.63 indicating that Chemed is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Chemed	12 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Quest Diagnostics	14 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is CHE or DGX more profitable?

Chemed has a net margin of 12.69% compared to Quest Diagnostics' net margin of 8.80%. Chemed's return on equity of 27.86% beat Quest Diagnostics' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Chemed	12.69%	27.86%	19.12%
Quest Diagnostics	8.80%	15.07%	6.72%

Do analysts rate CHE or DGX?

Chemed currently has a consensus price target of $674.00, indicating a potential upside of 17.60%. Quest Diagnostics has a consensus price target of $185.07, indicating a potential upside of 4.33%. Given Chemed's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Chemed is more favorable than Quest Diagnostics.

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
Quest Diagnostics	0 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.69

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of CHE or DGX?

95.8% of Chemed shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 88.1% of Quest Diagnostics shares are held by institutional investors. 3.3% of Chemed shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 8.2% of Quest Diagnostics shares are held 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.

Summary

Chemed beats Quest Diagnostics on 13 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.