Financial Survey: Sonida Senior Living (NYSE:SNDA) versus Guardian Pharmacy Services (NYSE:GRDN)

Guardian Pharmacy Services (NYSE:GRDN) and Sonida Senior Living (NYSE:SNDA) are both healthcare companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings for Guardian Pharmacy Services and Sonida Senior Living, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Guardian Pharmacy Services	0	1	8	0	2.89
Sonida Senior Living	1	1	6	0	2.62

Guardian Pharmacy Services currently has a consensus price target of $43.83, indicating a potential upside of 0.01%. Sonida Senior Living has a consensus price target of $49.50, indicating a potential upside of 25.60%. Given Sonida Senior Living’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Sonida Senior Living is more favorable than Guardian Pharmacy Services.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

87.5% of Sonida Senior Living shares are owned by institutional investors. 33.0% of Guardian Pharmacy Services shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 39.3% of Sonida Senior Living shares are owned by 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.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Guardian Pharmacy Services and Sonida Senior Living”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Guardian Pharmacy Services	$1.45 billion	1.51	$49.22 million	$1.03	42.55
Sonida Senior Living	$381.14 million	4.97	-$70.78 million	($6.19)	-6.37

Guardian Pharmacy Services has higher revenue and earnings than Sonida Senior Living. Sonida Senior Living is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Guardian Pharmacy Services, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Guardian Pharmacy Services and Sonida Senior Living’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Guardian Pharmacy Services	4.50%	29.97%	16.18%
Sonida Senior Living	-23.27%	-25.53%	-6.67%

Volatility & Risk

Guardian Pharmacy Services has a beta of 0.06, suggesting that its stock price is 94% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sonida Senior Living has a beta of 0.74, suggesting that its stock price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Guardian Pharmacy Services beats Sonida Senior Living on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Guardian Pharmacy Services

Guardian Pharmacy Services, Inc., a pharmacy service company, provides a suite of technology-enabled services designed to help residents of long-term health care facilities (LTCFs) in the United States. Its individualized clinical, drug dispensing, and administration capabilities are used to serve the needs of residents in lower acuity LTCFs, such as assisted living facilities and behavioral health facilities and group homes. The company’s Guardian Compass includes dashboards created using data from its data warehouse to help its local pharmacies plan, track, and optimize their business operations; and GuardianShield Programs for LTCFs. The company was founded in 2003 and is based in Atlanta, Georgia.

About Sonida Senior Living

Sonida Senior Living, Inc. develops, owns, operates, and manages senior housing communities in the United States. The company provides independent living services, which include daily meals, transportation, social and recreational activities, laundry, housekeeping, and 24-hour staffing; and access to health screenings, periodic special services, and dietary and similar programs, as well as exercise and fitness classes. It also offers assisted living services consist of personal care services, such as assistance with activities of daily living, including ambulation, bathing, dressing, eating, grooming, personal hygiene, and monitoring or assistance with medications; support services, such as meals, assistance with social and recreational activities, laundry, general housekeeping, maintenance, and transportation services; and supplemental services, which include extra transportation, personal maintenance, and extra laundry services, as well as special care services for residents with various forms of dementia. In addition, the company provides memory care services; and home care services through third-party providers. As of December 31, 2021, it operated 75 senior housing communities in 18 states with an aggregate capacity of approximately 9,500 residents, including 60 senior housing communities. The company was formerly known as Capital Senior Living Corporation and changed its name to Sonida Senior Living, Inc. in November 2021. Sonida Senior Living, Inc. was founded in 1990 and is based in Addison, Texas.