Comparing Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) & LifeMD (NASDAQ:LFMD)

Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) and LifeMD (NASDAQ:LFMD) are both medical companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares Icon and LifeMD’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Icon	7.40%	10.58%	6.01%
LifeMD	-1.82%	N/A	-6.44%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

95.6% of Icon shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 35.5% of LifeMD shares are held by institutional investors. 44.0% of Icon shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 18.4% of LifeMD shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Icon and LifeMD, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Icon	0	11	6	1	2.44
LifeMD	1	2	6	0	2.56

Icon presently has a consensus target price of $200.60, suggesting a potential upside of 12.32%. LifeMD has a consensus target price of $9.25, suggesting a potential upside of 182.01%. Given LifeMD’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe LifeMD is more favorable than Icon.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Icon and LifeMD”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Icon	$8.28 billion	1.74	$791.47 million	$7.39	24.17
LifeMD	$212.45 million	0.74	-$18.88 million	($0.17)	-19.29

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

Volatility and Risk

Icon has a beta of 1.27, suggesting that its share price is 27% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, LifeMD has a beta of 1.9, suggesting that its share price is 90% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Icon beats LifeMD on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Icon

ICON Public Limited Company, a clinical research organization, provides outsourced development and commercialization services in Ireland, rest of Europe, the United States, and internationally. The company specializes in the strategic development, management, and analysis of programs that support various stages of the clinical development process from compound selection to Phase I-IV clinical studies. It also offers clinical development services, including all phases of development, peri and post approval, data solutions, and site and patient access services; clinical trial management, consulting, and contract staffing services; and commercial services comprising clinical development strategy, planning and trial design, full study execution, and post-market commercialization. In addition, the company provides laboratory services, including bionanalytical, biomarker, vaccine, good manufacturing practice, and central laboratory services, as well as full-service and functional service partnerships to customers. Further, it offers adaptive trials, cardiac safety solutions, clinical and scientific operations, consulting and advisory, commercial positioning, decentralized and hybrid clinical trials, early clinical, laboratories, language services, medical imaging, real world intelligence, site and patient, and strategic solutions. The company serves pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device industries, as well as government and public health organizations. ICON Public Limited Company was incorporated in 1990 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.

About LifeMD

LifeMD, Inc. operates as a direct-to-patient telehealth company that connects consumers to healthcare professionals for medical care in the United States. The company offers telehealth platform comprising RexMD, a men's telehealth brand that provides access to virtual medical treatment for a variety of men's health needs from licensed physician; ShapiroMD that provides virtual medical treatment, prescription medications, patented doctor formulated OTC products, topical compounded medications, and medical devices treating male and female hair loss; NavaMD, a female-oriented tele-dermatology that offers virtual medical treatment from dermatologists and other providers; and prescription oral and compounded topical medications to treat aging and acne; and Cleared which provides personalized treatments for allergy, asthma and immunology, including in-home tests for both environmental and food allergies, prescriptions for allergies and asthma and immunotherapies for treating chronic allergies. It also provides LifeMD PC, a direct-to-consumer virtual primary care which includes 24/7 access to a provider for their primary care, urgent care, and chronic care needs; and offers virtual consultations and treatment, prescription medications, diagnostics and imaging, wellness coaching, and more. In addition, the company offers PDFSimpli, an online software as a service platform that allows users to create, edit, convert, sign, and share PDF documents; ResumeBuild which provides digital resume and cover letter services; SignSimpli, a digital signature platform; and LegalSimpli, a provider of legal forms for consumers and small businesses. It sells its products directly to consumers and through e-commerce platforms, as well as through third party partner channels. The company was formerly known as Conversion Labs, Inc. and changed its name to LifeMD, Inc. in February 2021. LifeMD, Inc. was incorporated in 1994 and is headquartered in New York, New York.