Critical Survey: Sotera Health (NASDAQ:SHC) & American Caresource (OTCMKTS:GNOW)

American Caresource (OTCMKTS:GNOW) and Sotera Health (NASDAQ:SHC) are both medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

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

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
American Caresource	0	0	0	0	0.00
Sotera Health	0	3	4	0	2.57

Sotera Health has a consensus target price of $16.08, suggesting a potential upside of 21.48%. Given Sotera Health’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Sotera Health is more favorable than American Caresource.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

91.0% of Sotera Health shares are owned by institutional investors. 51.5% of American Caresource shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 55.1% of Sotera Health shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares American Caresource and Sotera Health’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
American Caresource	N/A	N/A	N/A
Sotera Health	6.31%	42.27%	6.02%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares American Caresource and Sotera Health”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
American Caresource	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Sotera Health	$1.12 billion	3.35	$51.38 million	$0.25	52.96

Sotera Health has higher revenue and earnings than American Caresource.

Summary

Sotera Health beats American Caresource on 9 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About American Caresource

American CareSource Holdings, Inc. provides urgent and primary care services in the United States. The company operates healthcare centers that offer non-life-threatening out-patient medical care for the treatment of acute, episodic, and chronic medical conditions. Its healthcare centers provide treatment of general medical problems, including colds, flus, ear infections, hypertension, asthma, pneumonia, urinary tract infections, and other conditions; treatment of injuries, such as fractures, dislocations, sprains, bruises, and cuts; minor non-emergent surgical procedures; diagnostic tests, such as X-rays, electrocardiograms, complete blood counts, and urinalyses; and occupational and industrial medical services, including drug testing, workers’ compensation cases, and pre-employment physical examinations. It owns and operates 13 urgent and primary care centers, including 2 in Georgia, 2 in Florida, 3 in Alabama, 4 in North Carolina, and 2 in Virginia. The company was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

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.