Reviewing Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) and Surgery Partners (NASDAQ:SGRY)

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

Earnings and Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Surgery Partners	$3.11 billion	0.66	-$168.10 million	($1.36)	-11.67
Icon	$8.28 billion	1.78	$791.47 million	$7.39	24.74

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

95.6% of Icon shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.7% of Surgery Partners shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 44.0% of Icon shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Surgery Partners and Icon, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Surgery Partners	1	2	7	0	2.60
Icon	0	11	8	2	2.57

Surgery Partners currently has a consensus price target of $27.11, suggesting a potential upside of 70.83%. Icon has a consensus price target of $205.31, suggesting a potential upside of 12.29%. Given Surgery Partners’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Surgery Partners is more favorable than Icon.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Surgery Partners	-5.21%	2.41%	0.96%
Icon	7.40%	10.58%	6.01%

Risk and Volatility

Surgery Partners has a beta of 1.93, indicating that its stock price is 93% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Icon has a beta of 1.25, indicating that its stock price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Icon beats Surgery Partners on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Surgery Partners

Surgery Partners, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, owns and operates a network of surgical facilities and ancillary services in the United States. The company provides ambulatory surgery centers and surgical hospitals that offer non-emergency surgical procedures in various specialties, including orthopedics and pain management, ophthalmology, gastroenterology, and general surgery. It offers diagnostic imaging, laboratory, obstetrics, oncology, pharmacy, physical therapy, and wound care; and ancillary services, including multi-specialty physician practices, urgent care facilities, and anesthesia services. In addition, it offers single- and multi-specialty facilities. Surgery Partners, Inc. was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee.

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.