Head-To-Head Review: 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 institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, earnings and valuation.

Risk & Volatility

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

Valuation & Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Surgery Partners	$3.37 billion	0.58	-$77.90 million	($0.70)	-21.19
LifeStance Health Group	$1.42 billion	3.36	$9.66 million	$0.13	96.31

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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Surgery Partners and LifeStance Health Group, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	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 target price of $19.00, suggesting a potential upside of 28.12%. LifeStance Health Group has a consensus target price of $13.12, suggesting a potential upside of 4.83%. Given Surgery Partners’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Surgery Partners is more favorable than LifeStance Health Group.

Insider & 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 stock will outperform the market over the long term.

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%

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.