Medifast (MED) Competitors

USANA Health Sciences (NYSE:USNA) and Medifast (NYSE:MED) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, media sentiment, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability and community ranking.

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in USNA or MED?

54.3% of USANA Health Sciences shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.5% of Medifast shares are held by institutional investors. 0.6% of USANA Health Sciences shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.9% of Medifast shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts prefer USNA or MED?

USANA Health Sciences presently has a consensus price target of $36.00, suggesting a potential upside of 20.64%. Medifast has a consensus price target of $16.50, suggesting a potential upside of 24.11%. Given Medifast's higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Medifast is more favorable than USANA Health Sciences.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
USANA Health Sciences	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Medifast	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Does the media favor USNA or MED?

In the previous week, USANA Health Sciences had 2 more articles in the media than Medifast. MarketBeat recorded 3 mentions for USANA Health Sciences and 1 mentions for Medifast. USANA Health Sciences' average media sentiment score of 0.80 beat Medifast's score of -1.00 indicating that USANA Health Sciences is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
USANA Health Sciences	Positive
Medifast	Negative

Is USNA or MED more profitable?

USANA Health Sciences has a net margin of 6.30% compared to Medifast's net margin of 0.35%.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
USANA Health Sciences	6.30%	10.64%	8.48%
Medifast	0.35%	10.64%	7.57%

Which has higher valuation and earnings, USNA or MED?

Medifast has lower revenue, but higher earnings than USANA Health Sciences. Medifast is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than USANA Health Sciences, 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
USANA Health Sciences	$876.24M	0.63	$63.79M	$1.82	16.40
Medifast	$543.45M	0.27	$99.42M	-$0.65	-20.45

Which has more risk and volatility, USNA or MED?

USANA Health Sciences has a beta of 0.63, meaning that its share price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Medifast has a beta of 0.88, meaning that its share price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor USNA or MED?

USANA Health Sciences received 16 more outperform votes than Medifast when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 63.58% of users gave Medifast an outperform vote while only 60.42% of users gave USANA Health Sciences an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
USANA Health Sciences	Outperform Votes 400 60.42%	Underperform Votes 262 39.58%
Medifast	Outperform Votes 384 63.58%	Underperform Votes 220 36.42%

Summary

USANA Health Sciences beats Medifast on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.