UHS vs. ALC, THC, EHC, ENSG, ACHC, SEM, USPH, BKD, WOOF, and CYH
Should you be buying Universal Health Services stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Universal Health Services include Alcon (ALC), Tenet Healthcare (THC), Encompass Health (EHC), The Ensign Group (ENSG), Acadia Healthcare (ACHC), Select Medical (SEM), U.S. Physical Therapy (USPH), Brookdale Senior Living (BKD), Petco Health and Wellness (WOOF), and Community Health Systems (CYH). These companies are all part of the "health care facilities" industry.
Universal Health Services (NYSE:UHS) and Alcon (NYSE:ALC) are both large-cap medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, media sentiment, community ranking, earnings, dividends and profitability.
Universal Health Services received 439 more outperform votes than Alcon when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 65.40% of users gave Universal Health Services an outperform vote while only 61.72% of users gave Alcon an outperform vote.
Universal Health Services has a beta of 1.26, suggesting that its share price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Alcon has a beta of 0.92, suggesting that its share price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500.
86.1% of Universal Health Services shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 53.9% of Alcon shares are owned by institutional investors. 16.1% of Universal Health Services shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of Alcon shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
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.
Universal Health Services currently has a consensus price target of $190.43, suggesting a potential upside of 0.33%. Alcon has a consensus price target of $94.71, suggesting a potential upside of 6.26%. Given Alcon's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Alcon is more favorable than Universal Health Services.
Alcon has a net margin of 10.96% compared to Universal Health Services' net margin of 5.57%. Universal Health Services' return on equity of 13.34% beat Alcon's return on equity.
In the previous week, Universal Health Services had 21 more articles in the media than Alcon. MarketBeat recorded 23 mentions for Universal Health Services and 2 mentions for Alcon. Universal Health Services' average media sentiment score of 0.45 beat Alcon's score of -0.35 indicating that Universal Health Services is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Summary
Universal Health Services beats Alcon on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding UHS and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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