DaVita (DVA) Competitors

DaVita (NYSE:DVA) and Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) are both large-cap medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their community ranking, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, earnings, profitability, media sentiment, institutional ownership and dividends.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer DVA or LH?

Laboratory Co. of America received 130 more outperform votes than DaVita when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 63.89% of users gave Laboratory Co. of America an outperform vote while only 61.10% of users gave DaVita an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
DaVita	Outperform Votes 498 61.10%	Underperform Votes 317 38.90%
Laboratory Co. of America	Outperform Votes 628 63.89%	Underperform Votes 355 36.11%

Does the media prefer DVA or LH?

In the previous week, Laboratory Co. of America had 5 more articles in the media than DaVita. MarketBeat recorded 10 mentions for Laboratory Co. of America and 5 mentions for DaVita. Laboratory Co. of America's average media sentiment score of 1.21 beat DaVita's score of 1.00 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
DaVita	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Laboratory Co. of America	7 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do insiders & institutionals believe in DVA or LH?

90.1% of DaVita shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.9% of Laboratory Co. of America shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.0% of DaVita shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of Laboratory Co. of America shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts rate DVA or LH?

DaVita currently has a consensus price target of $164.50, suggesting a potential upside of 18.36%. Laboratory Co. of America has a consensus price target of $272.92, suggesting a potential upside of 5.28%. Given DaVita's higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe DaVita is more favorable than Laboratory Co. of America.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
DaVita	1 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Laboratory Co. of America	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.86

Which has higher earnings and valuation, DVA or LH?

DaVita has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Laboratory Co. of America. DaVita 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
DaVita	$12.97B	0.81	$936.34M	$10.09	13.77
Laboratory Co. of America	$13.18B	1.65	$746M	$8.65	29.97

Which has more volatility & risk, DVA or LH?

DaVita has a beta of 1.11, suggesting that its share price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Laboratory Co. of America has a beta of 0.81, suggesting that its share price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is DVA or LH more profitable?

DaVita has a net margin of 7.31% compared to Laboratory Co. of America's net margin of 5.73%. DaVita's return on equity of 115.48% beat Laboratory Co. of America's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
DaVita	7.31%	115.48%	4.94%
Laboratory Co. of America	5.73%	15.29%	7.01%

Summary

Laboratory Co. of America beats DaVita on 12 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.