Comparing Sotera Health (NASDAQ:SHC) & PACS Group (NYSE:PACS)

Sotera Health (NASDAQ:SHC) and PACS Group (NYSE:PACS) are both mid-cap medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, risk, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Sotera Health and PACS Group, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sotera Health	0	3	8	0	2.73
PACS Group	0	1	4	1	3.00

Sotera Health presently has a consensus target price of $20.14, suggesting a potential upside of 30.33%. PACS Group has a consensus target price of $44.40, suggesting a potential upside of 34.37%. Given PACS Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe PACS Group is more favorable than Sotera Health.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

91.0% of Sotera Health shares are owned by institutional investors. 15.4% of Sotera Health shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 70.4% of PACS Group shares are owned 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.

Profitability

This table compares Sotera Health and PACS Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sotera Health	6.70%	42.38%	6.91%
PACS Group	3.62%	22.55%	3.45%

Volatility & Risk

Sotera Health has a beta of 1.88, meaning that its share price is 88% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, PACS Group has a beta of 0.06, meaning that its share price is 94% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Sotera Health and PACS Group”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sotera Health	$1.16 billion	3.79	$77.94 million	$0.27	57.24
PACS Group	$5.29 billion	0.98	$191.54 million	$1.23	26.86

PACS Group has higher revenue and earnings than Sotera Health. PACS Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Sotera Health, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Sotera Health beats PACS Group on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sotera Health

Sotera Health Company engages in the provision of sterilization, lab testing, and advisory services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Sterigenics, Nordion, and Nelson Labs. It provides mission-critical end-to-end sterilization services, including gamma and electron beam irradiation, and ethylene oxide processing, as well as designs, installs, and maintains gamma irradiation systems. The company also provides microbiological and analytical chemistry testing, as well as technical assistance, regulatory consulting, and advisory services. It serves medical devices, pharmaceuticals, food safety, agricultural products, cancer treatment, and high-performance materials industries, as well as commercial, advanced, and specialty application industries. The company was formerly known as Sotera Health Topco, Inc. and changed its name to Sotera Health Company in October 2020. Sotera Health Company was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in Broadview Heights, Ohio.

About PACS Group

PACS Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates skilled nursing facilities and assisted living facilities in the United States. The company also provides senior care and independent facilities. It engages in the acquisition, ownership, and leasing of health care-related properties. The company was founded in 2013 and is based in Farmington, Utah.