LH vs. EXAS, NTRA, AVTR, BMRN, HOLX, COO, ALNY, WAT, GMAB, and PHG
Should you be buying Laboratory Co. of America stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Laboratory Co. of America include Exact Sciences (EXAS), Natera (NTRA), Avantor (AVTR), BioMarin Pharmaceutical (BMRN), Hologic (HOLX), Cooper Companies (COO), Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY), Waters (WAT), Genmab A/S (GMAB), and Koninklijke Philips (PHG). These companies are all part of the "medical" sector.
Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) and Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) are both large-cap medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, community ranking and media sentiment.
In the previous week, Laboratory Co. of America had 37 more articles in the media than Exact Sciences. MarketBeat recorded 42 mentions for Laboratory Co. of America and 5 mentions for Exact Sciences. Laboratory Co. of America's average media sentiment score of 0.77 beat Exact Sciences' score of 0.28 indicating that Exact Sciences is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Laboratory Co. of America has higher revenue and earnings than Exact Sciences. Exact Sciences is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Laboratory Co. of America, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Exact Sciences has a beta of 1.25, suggesting that its share price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Laboratory Co. of America has a beta of 1.01, suggesting that its share price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500.
88.8% of Exact Sciences shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.9% of Laboratory Co. of America shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.3% of Exact Sciences shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Laboratory Co. of America shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Exact Sciences received 347 more outperform votes than Laboratory Co. of America when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 72.40% of users gave Exact Sciences an outperform vote while only 64.10% of users gave Laboratory Co. of America an outperform vote.
Laboratory Co. of America has a net margin of 3.52% compared to Laboratory Co. of America's net margin of -8.17%. Exact Sciences' return on equity of 14.68% beat Laboratory Co. of America's return on equity.
Exact Sciences currently has a consensus target price of $97.44, indicating a potential upside of 67.36%. Laboratory Co. of America has a consensus target price of $243.14, indicating a potential upside of 22.27%. Given Laboratory Co. of America's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Exact Sciences is more favorable than Laboratory Co. of America.
Summary
Exact Sciences and Laboratory Co. of America tied by winning 9 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding LH and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Skip ChartThis 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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