U.S. Physical Therapy (NYSE:USPH) and DaVita (NYSE:DVA) Head-To-Head Analysis

U.S. Physical Therapy (NYSE:USPH) and DaVita (NYSE:DVA) are both medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, earnings and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for U.S. Physical Therapy and DaVita, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
U.S. Physical Therapy	0	3	4	1	2.75
DaVita	1	4	0	0	1.80

U.S. Physical Therapy presently has a consensus target price of $110.25, suggesting a potential upside of 25.97%. DaVita has a consensus target price of $155.25, suggesting a potential upside of 25.29%. Given U.S. Physical Therapy’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe U.S. Physical Therapy is more favorable than DaVita.

Profitability

This table compares U.S. Physical Therapy and DaVita’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
U.S. Physical Therapy	5.05%	8.78%	3.81%
DaVita	6.35%	369.39%	4.62%

Volatility and Risk

U.S. Physical Therapy has a beta of 1.48, indicating that its stock price is 48% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, DaVita has a beta of 1.13, indicating that its stock price is 13% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

90.1% of DaVita shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.0% of U.S. Physical Therapy shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of DaVita shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares U.S. Physical Therapy and DaVita”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
U.S. Physical Therapy	$671.34 million	1.98	$31.42 million	$2.29	38.22
DaVita	$12.82 billion	0.69	$936.34 million	$10.17	12.18

DaVita has higher revenue and earnings than U.S. Physical Therapy. DaVita is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than U.S. Physical Therapy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

U.S. Physical Therapy beats DaVita on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About U.S. Physical Therapy

U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. operates outpatient physical therapy clinics. The company operates through Physical Therapy Operations and Industrial Injury Prevention Services segments. The company provides pre-and post-operative care and treatment for orthopedic-related disorders, sports-related injuries, preventative care, rehabilitation of injured workers, and neurological-related injuries. It offers industrial injury prevention services, including onsite injury prevention and rehabilitation, performance optimization, post-offer employment testing, functional capacity evaluations, and ergonomic assessments through physical therapists and specialized certified athletic trainers for Fortune 500 companies, and other clients comprising insurers and their contractors. U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. was founded in 1990 and is based in Houston, Texas.

About DaVita

DaVita Inc. provides kidney dialysis services for patients suffering from chronic kidney failure in the United States. The company operates kidney dialysis centers and provides related lab services in outpatient dialysis centers. It also offers outpatient, hospital inpatient, and home-based hemodialysis services; operates clinical laboratories that provide routine laboratory tests for dialysis and other physician-prescribed laboratory tests for ESRD patients; and management and administrative services to outpatient dialysis centers. In addition, the company offers integrated care and disease management services to patients in risk-based and other integrated care arrangements; clinical research programs; physician services; and comprehensive kidney care services. Further, it engages in the provision of acute inpatient dialysis services and related laboratory services; and transplant software business. The company was formerly known as DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc. and changed its name to DaVita Inc. in September 2016. DaVita Inc. was incorporated in 1994 and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.