Head to Head Analysis: CorVel (NASDAQ:CRVL) versus Healthcare Services Group (NASDAQ:HCSG)

CorVel (NASDAQ:CRVL) and Healthcare Services Group (NASDAQ:HCSG) are both business services companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, risk and profitability.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

51.4% of CorVel shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.0% of Healthcare Services Group shares are held by institutional investors. 44.6% of CorVel shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.9% of Healthcare Services Group shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk & Volatility

CorVel has a beta of 0.99, meaning that its share price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Healthcare Services Group has a beta of 0.82, meaning that its share price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for CorVel and Healthcare Services Group, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CorVel	1	0	0	0	1.00
Healthcare Services Group	0	4	4	1	2.67

Healthcare Services Group has a consensus target price of $24.00, suggesting a potential upside of 18.58%. Given Healthcare Services Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Healthcare Services Group is more favorable than CorVel.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares CorVel and Healthcare Services Group”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CorVel	$958.53 million	3.05	$110.34 million	$2.14	26.92
Healthcare Services Group	$1.84 billion	0.76	$59.06 million	$0.96	21.08

CorVel has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Healthcare Services Group. Healthcare Services Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than CorVel, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares CorVel and Healthcare Services Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CorVel	11.51%	29.92%	17.68%
Healthcare Services Group	3.67%	17.81%	11.06%

Summary

CorVel beats Healthcare Services Group on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CorVel

CorVel Corporation provides workers’ compensation, auto, liability, and health solutions. It applies technology, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, and natural language processing to enhance the managing of episodes of care and the related health care costs. The company also offers network solutions services, including automated medical fee auditing, preferred provider management and reimbursement, retrospective utilization review, facility claim review, professional review, pharmacy, directed care, clearinghouse, independent medical examination, and inpatient medical bill review services, as well as Medicare solutions. In addition, it provides a range of patient management services, such as claims management, case management, 24/7 nurse triage, utilization management, vocational rehabilitation, and life care planning, as well as processing of claims for self-insured payors with respect to property and casualty insurance. The company offers solutions to employers, third party administrators, insurance companies, and government agencies to assist them in managing the medical costs and monitoring the quality of care associated with healthcare claims. CorVel Corporation was incorporated in 1987 and is based in Fort Worth, Texas.

About Healthcare Services Group

Healthcare Services Group, Inc. provides management, administrative, and operating services to the housekeeping, laundry, linen, facility maintenance, and dietary service departments of nursing homes, retirement complexes, rehabilitation centers, and hospitals in the United States. It operates through two segments, Housekeeping and Dietary. The Housekeeping segment engages in the cleaning, disinfecting, and sanitizing of resident rooms and common areas of the customers' facilities, as well as laundering and processing of the bed linens, uniforms, resident personal clothing, and other assorted linen items utilized at the customers' facilities. The Dietary segment provides food purchasing, meal preparation, and professional dietitian services, which include the development of menus that meet the dietary needs of residents; and on-site management and clinical consulting services to facilities. It serves long-term and post-acute care facilities, hospitals, and the healthcare industry through referrals and solicitation of target facilities. The company was incorporated in 1976 and is based in Bensalem, Pennsylvania.