Select Medical (SEM) Competitors

Select Medical (NYSE:SEM) and The Ensign Group (NASDAQ:ENSG) are both mid-cap medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their community ranking, profitability, earnings, valuation, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership and dividends.

Which has better valuation & earnings, SEM or ENSG?

The Ensign Group has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Select Medical. Select Medical is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than The Ensign Group, 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
Select Medical	$5.19B	0.45	$243.49M	$1.65	11.07
The Ensign Group	$4.26B	1.74	$297.97M	$5.29	24.38

Is SEM or ENSG more profitable?

The Ensign Group has a net margin of 6.99% compared to Select Medical's net margin of 3.23%. The Ensign Group's return on equity of 17.07% beat Select Medical's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Select Medical	3.23%	14.04%	3.32%
The Ensign Group	6.99%	17.07%	6.47%

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer SEM or ENSG?

The Ensign Group received 18 more outperform votes than Select Medical when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 66.18% of users gave The Ensign Group an outperform vote while only 58.16% of users gave Select Medical an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Select Medical	Outperform Votes 342 58.16%	Underperform Votes 246 41.84%
The Ensign Group	Outperform Votes 360 66.18%	Underperform Votes 184 33.82%

Does the media prefer SEM or ENSG?

In the previous week, The Ensign Group had 9 more articles in the media than Select Medical. MarketBeat recorded 25 mentions for The Ensign Group and 16 mentions for Select Medical. The Ensign Group's average media sentiment score of 1.03 beat Select Medical's score of 0.85 indicating that The Ensign Group is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Select Medical	9 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
The Ensign Group	12 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	9 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts prefer SEM or ENSG?

Select Medical currently has a consensus target price of $26.80, suggesting a potential upside of 46.77%. The Ensign Group has a consensus target price of $165.17, suggesting a potential upside of 28.05%. Given Select Medical's higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Select Medical is more favorable than The Ensign Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Select Medical	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.80
The Ensign Group	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.83

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in SEM or ENSG?

89.5% of Select Medical shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.1% of The Ensign Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 11.6% of Select Medical shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 3.9% of The Ensign Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more risk and volatility, SEM or ENSG?

Select Medical has a beta of 1.38, meaning that its share price is 38% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, The Ensign Group has a beta of 0.91, meaning that its share price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is SEM or ENSG a better dividend stock?

Select Medical pays an annual dividend of $0.25 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. The Ensign Group pays an annual dividend of $0.25 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. Select Medical pays out 15.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. The Ensign Group pays out 4.7% 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. The Ensign Group has raised its dividend for 18 consecutive years.

Summary

The Ensign Group beats Select Medical on 16 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.