LHC Group (NASDAQ: LHCG) and Intrepid Healthcare Services (NASDAQ:IPCM) are both medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, profitabiliy, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation and risk.
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for LHC Group and Intrepid Healthcare Services, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| LHC Group | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 3.00 |
| Intrepid Healthcare Services | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A |
LHC Group presently has a consensus target price of $65.14, indicating a potential upside of 2.70%. Given LHC Group’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe LHC Group is more favorable than Intrepid Healthcare Services.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
84.6% of LHC Group shares are held by institutional investors. 14.8% of LHC Group 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.
Earnings and Valuation
This table compares LHC Group and Intrepid Healthcare Services’ gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | EBITDA | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| LHC Group | $926.33 million | 1.25 | $85.92 million | $2.16 | 29.37 |
| Intrepid Healthcare Services | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
LHC Group has higher revenue and earnings than Intrepid Healthcare Services.
Profitability
This table compares LHC Group and Intrepid Healthcare Services’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| LHC Group | 4.09% | 9.48% | 6.04% |
| Intrepid Healthcare Services | 1.94% | 3.66% | 2.15% |
Summary
LHC Group beats Intrepid Healthcare Services on 8 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.
About LHC Group
LHC Group, Inc. is a holding company. The Company provides post-acute healthcare services to patients through its home nursing agencies, hospice agencies, community-based services agencies and long-term acute care hospitals (LTACHs). The Company operates through four segments: home health services, hospice services, community-based services and facility-based services. Through its home health services segment, the Company offers a range of services, including skilled nursing, medically oriented social services, and physical, occupational and speech therapy. Through its hospice services segment, the Company offers a range of services, including pain and symptom management, and emotional and spiritual support. Its community-based service operations offer a range of services to patients in their home or in a medical facility. The services range from assistance with grooming, medication reminders and meal preparation. It provides facility-based services principally through its LTACHs.
About Intrepid Healthcare Services
IPC Healthcare, Inc., formerly IPC The Hospitalist Company, Inc., is a national acute hospitalist and post-acute provider group practice in the United States. The Company’s clinical services are focused on providing, managing and coordinating the care of hospitalized patients and serving as the inpatient partner of primary care physicians and specialists. The Company provides its affiliated clinicians with administrative and professional services to support their practice of medicine. Each of the Company’s operating regions is led by an executive director and team of marketing and administrative staff that is responsible for strategic planning, coordinating with its national staff to recruit clinicians, managing hospital and post-acute care facilities, and payor relationships and contracts, among others. In addition, the Company serves business and government organizations, and healthcare and educational institutions with its Intelligent Technology solutions.
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