Alliance HealthCare Services (AIQ) versus Danaher Corporation (DHR) Head to Head Survey

Alliance HealthCare Services (NASDAQ: AIQ) and Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) are both medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation and profitabiliy.

Dividends

Danaher Corporation pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Alliance HealthCare Services does not pay a dividend. Danaher Corporation pays out 17.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Alliance HealthCare Services has raised its dividend for 3 consecutive years.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

27.0% of Alliance HealthCare Services shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 76.2% of Danaher Corporation shares are owned by institutional investors. 54.8% of Alliance HealthCare Services shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 12.2% of Danaher Corporation shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Alliance HealthCare Services and Danaher Corporation’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Alliance HealthCare Services	-0.29%	-54.66%	1.84%
Danaher Corporation	12.63%	11.15%	5.95%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Alliance HealthCare Services and Danaher Corporation’s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	EBITDA	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Alliance HealthCare Services	$511.76 million	0.27	$127.82 million	($0.17)	-77.35
Danaher Corporation	$17.43 billion	3.23	$4.16 billion	$3.14	25.80

Danaher Corporation has higher revenue and earnings than Alliance HealthCare Services. Alliance HealthCare Services is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Danaher Corporation, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Alliance HealthCare Services and Danaher Corporation, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Alliance HealthCare Services	0	0	0	0	N/A
Danaher Corporation	0	3	12	0	2.80

Danaher Corporation has a consensus price target of $91.63, indicating a potential upside of 13.10%. Given Danaher Corporation’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Danaher Corporation is more favorable than Alliance HealthCare Services.

Risk & Volatility

Alliance HealthCare Services has a beta of 0.66, suggesting that its stock price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Danaher Corporation has a beta of 1.03, suggesting that its stock price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Danaher Corporation beats Alliance HealthCare Services on 13 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Alliance HealthCare Services

Alliance HealthCare Services, Inc. (Alliance) is a provider of outsourced healthcare services to hospitals and providers. The Company operates through three segments: Radiology Division, Oncology Division and Interventional Healthcare Services Division. The radiology segment comprises diagnostic imaging services, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) and other imaging services. The radiology segment also comprises radiation oncology services. The interventional healthcare services segment provides interventional healthcare through therapeutic minimally invasive pain management procedures medical management, laboratory testing and other services. The Company operates freestanding outpatient radiology, oncology and interventional clinics, and Ambulatory Surgical Centers (ASC) that are not owned by hospitals or providers. It operates over 560 diagnostic imaging and radiation therapy systems.

About Danaher Corporation

Danaher Corporation (Danaher) designs, manufactures and markets professional, medical, industrial and commercial products and services. The Company operates through four segments: Life Sciences, which offers a range of research tools that scientists use to study the basic building blocks of life, including genes, proteins, metabolites and cells, in order to understand the causes of disease, identify new therapies and test new drugs and vaccines; Diagnostics; which offers analytical instruments, reagents, consumables, software and services; Dental, which provides products that are used to diagnose, treat and prevent disease and ailments of the teeth, gums and supporting bone, and Environmental & Applied Solutions, which consists of various lines of business, including water quality and product identification. As of December 31, 2016, Danaher’s research and development, manufacturing, sales, distribution, service and administrative facilities were located in over 60 countries.