Universal Health Services (UHS) Competitors

Universal Health Services (NYSE:UHS) and Alcon (NYSE:ALC) are both large-cap medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, institutional ownership, media sentiment, community ranking, valuation and earnings.

Is UHS or ALC more profitable?

Alcon has a net margin of 11.89% compared to Universal Health Services' net margin of 6.66%. Universal Health Services' return on equity of 15.75% beat Alcon's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Universal Health Services	6.66%	15.75%	7.18%
Alcon	11.89%	7.17%	5.03%

Which has more volatility and risk, UHS or ALC?

Universal Health Services has a beta of 1.29, indicating that its share price is 29% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Alcon has a beta of 1.06, indicating that its share price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts prefer UHS or ALC?

Universal Health Services currently has a consensus target price of $224.77, suggesting a potential upside of 18.45%. Alcon has a consensus target price of $106.13, suggesting a potential upside of 22.15%. Given Alcon's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Alcon is more favorable than Universal Health Services.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Universal Health Services	0 Sell rating(s)	9 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40
Alcon	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.71

Is UHS or ALC a better dividend stock?

Universal Health Services pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. Alcon pays an annual dividend of $0.26 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. Universal Health Services pays out 4.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Alcon pays out 11.6% 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. Alcon has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Universal Health Services is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer UHS or ALC?

Universal Health Services received 439 more outperform votes than Alcon when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 64.85% of users gave Universal Health Services an outperform vote while only 63.66% of users gave Alcon an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Universal Health Services	Outperform Votes 644 64.85%	Underperform Votes 349 35.15%
Alcon	Outperform Votes 205 63.66%	Underperform Votes 117 36.34%

Do institutionals and insiders have more ownership in UHS or ALC?

86.1% of Universal Health Services shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 53.9% of Alcon shares are held by institutional investors. 16.4% of Universal Health Services shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of Alcon shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, UHS or ALC?

Alcon has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Universal Health Services. Universal Health Services is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Alcon, 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
Universal Health Services	$16.08B	0.77	$717.79M	$17.82	10.65
Alcon	$9.93B	4.32	$974M	$2.25	38.61

Does the media prefer UHS or ALC?

In the previous week, Universal Health Services had 24 more articles in the media than Alcon. MarketBeat recorded 27 mentions for Universal Health Services and 3 mentions for Alcon. Universal Health Services' average media sentiment score of 1.16 beat Alcon's score of 0.30 indicating that Universal Health Services is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Universal Health Services	17 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Alcon	0 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Summary

Universal Health Services beats Alcon on 13 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.