Contrasting Sotera Health (NASDAQ:SHC) & Pediatrix Medical Group (NYSE:MD)

Sotera Health (NASDAQ:SHC) and Pediatrix Medical Group (NYSE:MD) are both medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, risk and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Sotera Health and Pediatrix Medical Group, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sotera Health	0	3	8	0	2.73
Pediatrix Medical Group	0	5	1	0	2.17

Sotera Health currently has a consensus price target of $20.29, indicating a potential upside of 25.30%. Pediatrix Medical Group has a consensus price target of $22.50, indicating a potential downside of 7.35%. Given Sotera Health’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Sotera Health is more favorable than Pediatrix Medical Group.

Volatility and Risk

Sotera Health has a beta of 1.79, suggesting that its share price is 79% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Pediatrix Medical Group has a beta of 0.69, suggesting that its share price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

91.0% of Sotera Health shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.7% of Pediatrix Medical Group shares are held by institutional investors. 15.4% of Sotera Health shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.8% of Pediatrix Medical Group shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Sotera Health and Pediatrix Medical Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sotera Health	9.91%	39.73%	7.05%
Pediatrix Medical Group	9.02%	19.94%	8.02%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Sotera Health and Pediatrix Medical Group”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sotera Health	$1.16 billion	3.97	$77.94 million	$0.41	39.49
Pediatrix Medical Group	$1.91 billion	1.04	$165.39 million	$2.06	11.79

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

Summary

Sotera Health beats Pediatrix Medical Group on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sotera Health

Sotera Health Company engages in the provision of sterilization, lab testing, and advisory services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Sterigenics, Nordion, and Nelson Labs. It provides mission-critical end-to-end sterilization services, including gamma and electron beam irradiation, and ethylene oxide processing, as well as designs, installs, and maintains gamma irradiation systems. The company also provides microbiological and analytical chemistry testing, as well as technical assistance, regulatory consulting, and advisory services. It serves medical devices, pharmaceuticals, food safety, agricultural products, cancer treatment, and high-performance materials industries, as well as commercial, advanced, and specialty application industries. The company was formerly known as Sotera Health Topco, Inc. and changed its name to Sotera Health Company in October 2020. Sotera Health Company was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in Broadview Heights, Ohio.

About Pediatrix Medical Group

Pediatrix Medical Group, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides newborn, maternal-fetal, pediatric cardiology, and other pediatric subspecialty care services in the United States. It offers neonatal care services, such as clinical care to babies born prematurely or with complications within specific units at hospitals through neonatal physician subspecialists, neonatal nurse practitioners, and other pediatric clinicians. The company also provides maternal-fetal care services, including inpatient and office-based clinical care to expectant mothers and unborn babies through affiliated maternal-fetal medicine subspecialists, as well as obstetricians and other clinicians, including maternal-fetal nurse practitioners, certified nurse mid-wives, sonographers, and genetic counselors. In addition, it offers pediatric cardiology care services comprising inpatient and office-based pediatric cardiology care of the fetus, infant, child, and adolescent patient with congenital heart defects and acquired heart disease, as well as adults with congenital heart defects through affiliated pediatric cardiologist subspecialists and other related clinical professionals, including pediatric nurse practitioners, echocardiographers, other diagnostic technicians, and exercise physiologists; and specialized cardiac care to the fetus, neonatal and pediatric patients. Further, the company provides other pediatric subspecialty care services, such as pediatric intensivists, pediatric hospitalists, pediatric surgeons, and pediatric ophthalmologists, as well as pediatric ear, nose, and throat physicians, pediatric gastroenterologists; and support services in the areas of hospitals, primarily in the pediatric emergency rooms, labor and delivery areas, and nursery and pediatric departments. The company was formerly known as MEDNAX, Inc. and changed its name to Pediatrix Medical Group, Inc. in July 2022. Pediatrix Medical Group, Inc. was founded in 1979 and is based in Sunrise, Florida.