Head-To-Head Contrast: LifeStance Health Group (NASDAQ:LFST) & Surgery Partners (NASDAQ:SGRY)

Surgery Partners (NASDAQ:SGRY) and LifeStance Health Group (NASDAQ:LFST) are both healthcare companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, dividends, earnings, profitability and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Surgery Partners and LifeStance Health Group, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Surgery Partners	1	3	7	0	2.55
LifeStance Health Group	0	4	6	1	2.73

Surgery Partners presently has a consensus price target of $19.00, suggesting a potential upside of 39.30%. LifeStance Health Group has a consensus price target of $13.12, suggesting a potential upside of 8.83%. Given Surgery Partners’ higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Surgery Partners is more favorable than LifeStance Health Group.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

85.5% of LifeStance Health Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.0% of Surgery Partners shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 3.5% of LifeStance Health Group shares are owned 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.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Surgery Partners and LifeStance Health Group”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Surgery Partners	$3.31 billion	0.54	-$77.90 million	($0.70)	-19.49
LifeStance Health Group	$1.42 billion	3.24	$9.66 million	$0.13	92.77

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

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Surgery Partners	-2.63%	0.88%	0.34%
LifeStance Health Group	3.19%	3.39%	2.33%

Volatility and Risk

Surgery Partners has a beta of 1.9, indicating that its share price is 90% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, LifeStance Health Group has a beta of 1.24, indicating that its share price is 24% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

LifeStance Health Group beats Surgery Partners on 11 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 LifeStance Health Group

LifeStance Health Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides outpatient mental health services to children, adolescents, adults, and geriatrics in the United States. The company offers patients a suite of mental health services, including psychiatric evaluations and treatment, psychological, and neuropsychological testing, as well as individual, family, and group therapy. It treats a range of mental health conditions, including anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, psychotic disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder. In addition, the company operates an outpatient mental health platform, as well as offers patient care virtually through its online delivery platform or in-person at its centers. LifeStance Health Group, Inc. was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona.