Critical Review: Labcorp (NYSE:LH) and Teladoc Health (NYSE:TDOC)

Labcorp (NYSE:LH) and Teladoc Health (NYSE:TDOC) are both medical companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, earnings, profitability, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Labcorp and Teladoc Health, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Labcorp	0	3	8	0	2.73
Teladoc Health	1	12	5	0	2.22

Labcorp presently has a consensus target price of $308.00, indicating a potential upside of 21.26%. Teladoc Health has a consensus target price of $7.53, indicating a potential upside of 3.91%. Given Labcorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Labcorp is more favorable than Teladoc Health.

Profitability

This table compares Labcorp and Teladoc Health’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Labcorp	6.66%	16.29%	7.62%
Teladoc Health	-6.81%	-11.45%	-5.54%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

95.9% of Labcorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 76.8% of Teladoc Health shares are held by institutional investors. 0.8% of Labcorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of Teladoc Health shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Labcorp and Teladoc Health”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Labcorp	$13.95 billion	1.49	$876.50 million	$11.29	22.50
Teladoc Health	$2.53 billion	0.52	-$200.32 million	($0.97)	-7.47

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

Risk & Volatility

Labcorp has a beta of 0.91, meaning that its stock price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Teladoc Health has a beta of 2.08, meaning that its stock price is 108% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Labcorp beats Teladoc Health on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Labcorp

Labcorp Holdings, Inc. engages in providing medical testing services. The company was founded on April 16, 2024 and is headquartered in Burlington, NC.

About Teladoc Health

Teladoc Health, Inc. provides virtual healthcare services worldwide. The company operates through Teladoc Health Integrated Care and BetterHelp segments. The Integrated Care segment offers virtual medical services, including general medical, expert medical, specialty medical, chronic condition management, and mental health, as well as enabling technologies and enterprise telehealth solutions for hospitals and health systems. The BetterHelp segment operates a mental health platform that provides online counseling and therapy services through website, mobile applications, phones, and text-based interactions by its licensed clinicians. The company offers its products and services under the Teladoc, Livongo, and BetterHelp brands. It serves employers, health plans, hospitals and health systems, and insurance and financial services companies, as well as individual members. The company was formerly known as Teladoc, Inc. and changed its name to Teladoc Health, Inc. in August 2018. Teladoc Health, Inc. was incorporated in 2002 and is headquartered in Purchase, New York.