Financial Review: Chemed (CHE) versus The Competition

Chemed (NYSE:CHE) is one of 235 public companies in the “Healthcare Providers & Services” industry, but how does it contrast to its peers? We will compare Chemed to related businesses based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, valuation, profitability, institutional ownership and dividends.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Chemed and its peers revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Chemed	$2.53 billion	$265.24 million	25.48
Chemed Competitors	$20.60 billion	$281.76 million	-2.38

Chemed’s peers have higher revenue and earnings than Chemed. Chemed is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Volatility & Risk

Chemed has a beta of 0.51, indicating that its share price is 49% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Chemed’s peers have a beta of 0.98, indicating that their average share price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Chemed and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Chemed	0	5	1	0	2.17
Chemed Competitors	1801	7573	13007	790	2.55

Chemed currently has a consensus price target of $530.75, suggesting a potential upside of 4.64%. As a group, “Healthcare Providers & Services” companies have a potential upside of 13.52%. Given Chemed’s peers stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Chemed has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Profitability

This table compares Chemed and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Chemed	10.60%	31.77%	18.90%
Chemed Competitors	-7.68%	-139.71%	-1.48%

Dividends

Chemed pays an annual dividend of $2.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Chemed pays out 14.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Healthcare Providers & Services” companies pay a dividend yield of 1.6% and pay out 25.4% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Chemed has raised its dividend for 16 consecutive years.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

95.8% of Chemed shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 56.9% of shares of all “Healthcare Providers & Services” companies are owned by institutional investors. 3.3% of Chemed shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 15.4% of shares of all “Healthcare Providers & Services” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Chemed peers beat Chemed on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

Chemed Company Profile

Chemed Corporation provides hospice and palliative care services to patients through a network of physicians, registered nurses, home health aides, social workers, clergy, and volunteers primarily in the United States. The company operates in VITAS and Roto-Rooter segments. It offers plumbing, drain cleaning, excavation, water restoration, and other related services to residential and commercial customers through company-owned branches, independent contractors, and franchisees. The company was incorporated in 1970 and is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.