Select Medical (SEM) Competitors

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

Does the MarketBeat Community favor EHC or SEM?

Encompass Health received 158 more outperform votes than Select Medical when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 71.70% of users gave Encompass Health an outperform vote while only 57.70% of users gave Select Medical an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Encompass Health	Outperform Votes 484 71.70%	Underperform Votes 191 28.30%
Select Medical	Outperform Votes 326 57.70%	Underperform Votes 239 42.30%

Which has stronger earnings and valuation, EHC or SEM?

Encompass Health has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Select Medical. Select Medical is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Encompass Health, 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
Encompass Health	$4.80B	1.71	$352M	$3.47	23.61
Select Medical	$6.66B	0.54	$243.49M	$1.91	14.59

Which has more volatility and risk, EHC or SEM?

Encompass Health has a beta of 0.94, suggesting that its stock price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Select Medical has a beta of 1.37, suggesting that its stock price is 37% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is EHC or SEM a better dividend stock?

Encompass Health pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Select Medical pays an annual dividend of $0.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Encompass Health pays out 17.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Select Medical pays out 26.2% 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.

Do analysts rate EHC or SEM?

Encompass Health presently has a consensus price target of $83.22, indicating a potential upside of 1.60%. Select Medical has a consensus price target of $34.40, indicating a potential upside of 23.03%. Given Encompass Health's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Select Medical is more favorable than Encompass Health.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Encompass Health	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.13
Select Medical	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of EHC or SEM?

97.3% of Encompass Health shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.5% of Select Medical shares are held by institutional investors. 2.1% of Encompass Health shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 17.5% of Select Medical shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Is EHC or SEM more profitable?

Encompass Health has a net margin of 7.33% compared to Encompass Health's net margin of 3.65%. Select Medical's return on equity of 17.69% beat Encompass Health's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Encompass Health	7.33%	17.69%	6.24%
Select Medical	3.65%	16.93%	3.30%

Does the media favor EHC or SEM?

In the previous week, Encompass Health had 2 more articles in the media than Select Medical. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for Encompass Health and 5 mentions for Select Medical. Select Medical's average media sentiment score of 1.36 beat Encompass Health's score of -0.06 indicating that Encompass Health is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Encompass Health	6 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Select Medical	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Summary

Encompass Health beats Select Medical on 16 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.