Contrasting LifeMD (NASDAQ:LFMD) and U.S. Physical Therapy (NYSE:USPH)

U.S. Physical Therapy (NYSE:USPH) and LifeMD (NASDAQ:LFMD) are both small-cap healthcare companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, profitability, risk and valuation.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

35.5% of LifeMD shares are held by institutional investors. 2.4% of U.S. Physical Therapy shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 17.2% of LifeMD shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for U.S. Physical Therapy and LifeMD, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
U.S. Physical Therapy	0	2	4	1	2.86
LifeMD	1	1	8	0	2.70

U.S. Physical Therapy currently has a consensus price target of $98.25, indicating a potential upside of 24.93%. LifeMD has a consensus price target of $7.57, indicating a potential upside of 148.24%. Given LifeMD’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe LifeMD is more favorable than U.S. Physical Therapy.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares U.S. Physical Therapy and LifeMD”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
U.S. Physical Therapy	$780.99 million	1.50	$39.58 million	$0.17	462.62
LifeMD	$191.59 million	0.77	$14.35 million	($0.05)	-61.00

U.S. Physical Therapy has higher revenue and earnings than LifeMD. LifeMD is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than U.S. Physical Therapy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares U.S. Physical Therapy and LifeMD’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
U.S. Physical Therapy	3.97%	9.39%	3.65%
LifeMD	0.10%	-168.23%	-31.27%

Risk and Volatility

U.S. Physical Therapy has a beta of 1.13, meaning that its stock price is 13% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, LifeMD has a beta of 2.04, meaning that its stock price is 104% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

U.S. Physical Therapy beats LifeMD on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About U.S. Physical Therapy

U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. operates outpatient physical therapy clinics. The company operates through Physical Therapy Operations and Industrial Injury Prevention Services segments. The company provides pre-and post-operative care and treatment for orthopedic-related disorders, sports-related injuries, preventative care, rehabilitation of injured workers, and neurological-related injuries. It offers industrial injury prevention services, including onsite injury prevention and rehabilitation, performance optimization, post-offer employment testing, functional capacity evaluations, and ergonomic assessments through physical therapists and specialized certified athletic trainers for Fortune 500 companies, and other clients comprising insurers and their contractors. U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. was founded in 1990 and is based in Houston, Texas.

About LifeMD

LifeMD, Inc. operates as a direct-to-patient telehealth company that connects consumers to healthcare professionals for medical care in the United States. The company offers telehealth platform comprising RexMD, a men's telehealth brand that provides access to virtual medical treatment for a variety of men's health needs from licensed physician; ShapiroMD that provides virtual medical treatment, prescription medications, patented doctor formulated OTC products, topical compounded medications, and medical devices treating male and female hair loss; NavaMD, a female-oriented tele-dermatology that offers virtual medical treatment from dermatologists and other providers; and prescription oral and compounded topical medications to treat aging and acne; and Cleared which provides personalized treatments for allergy, asthma and immunology, including in-home tests for both environmental and food allergies, prescriptions for allergies and asthma and immunotherapies for treating chronic allergies. It also provides LifeMD PC, a direct-to-consumer virtual primary care which includes 24/7 access to a provider for their primary care, urgent care, and chronic care needs; and offers virtual consultations and treatment, prescription medications, diagnostics and imaging, wellness coaching, and more. In addition, the company offers PDFSimpli, an online software as a service platform that allows users to create, edit, convert, sign, and share PDF documents; ResumeBuild which provides digital resume and cover letter services; SignSimpli, a digital signature platform; and LegalSimpli, a provider of legal forms for consumers and small businesses. It sells its products directly to consumers and through e-commerce platforms, as well as through third party partner channels. The company was formerly known as Conversion Labs, Inc. and changed its name to LifeMD, Inc. in February 2021. LifeMD, Inc. was incorporated in 1994 and is headquartered in New York, New York.