Prestige Consumer Healthcare (NYSE:PBH) versus GSK (NYSE:GSK) Critical Analysis

Prestige Consumer Healthcare (NYSE:PBH) and GSK (NYSE:GSK) are both healthcare companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, valuation, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Prestige Consumer Healthcare and GSK”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Prestige Consumer Healthcare	$1.09 billion	2.08	$190.30 million	$3.57	13.36
GSK	$43.07 billion	2.38	$7.54 billion	$3.20	15.84

GSK has higher revenue and earnings than Prestige Consumer Healthcare. Prestige Consumer Healthcare is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than GSK, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility & Risk

Prestige Consumer Healthcare has a beta of 0.33, suggesting that its share price is 67% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, GSK has a beta of 0.35, suggesting that its share price is 65% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Prestige Consumer Healthcare and GSK, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Prestige Consumer Healthcare	1	3	2	0	2.17
GSK	2	7	1	1	2.09

Prestige Consumer Healthcare presently has a consensus target price of $70.75, indicating a potential upside of 48.31%. GSK has a consensus target price of $56.50, indicating a potential upside of 11.44%. Given Prestige Consumer Healthcare’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Prestige Consumer Healthcare is more favorable than GSK.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

100.0% of Prestige Consumer Healthcare shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 15.7% of GSK shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.5% of Prestige Consumer Healthcare shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 10.0% of GSK shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Prestige Consumer Healthcare and GSK’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Prestige Consumer Healthcare	15.57%	11.39%	5.66%
GSK	14.56%	43.23%	11.60%

Summary

GSK beats Prestige Consumer Healthcare on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Prestige Consumer Healthcare

Prestige Consumer Healthcare Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, markets, distributes, and sells over-the-counter (OTC) health and personal care products in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, North American OTC Healthcare and International OTC Healthcare. It offers BC/Goody's analgesic powders, Boudreaux's Butt Paste baby ointments, Chloraseptic sore throat liquids and lozenges, Clear Eyes for eye redness relief, Compound W wart removals, DenTek for PEG oral care, Debrox ear wax removals, and Dramamine for motion sickness relief. The company also provides Fleet adult enemas/suppositories, Gaviscon upset stomach remedies, Luden's cough drops, Monistat vaginal anti-fungal, Nix lice/parasite treatments, Summer's Eve feminine hygiene, TheraTears dry eye relief, Fess nasal saline spray and washes, and Hydralyte for oral rehydration products. It sells its products through mass merchandisers; and drug, food, dollar, convenience, and club stores, as well as e-commerce channels. The company was formerly known as Prestige Brands Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to Prestige Consumer Healthcare Inc. in August 2018. Prestige Consumer Healthcare Inc. was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Tarrytown, New York.

About GSK

GSK plc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the research, development, and manufacture of vaccines, and specialty and general medicines to prevent and treat disease in the United Kingdom, the United States, and internationally. It operates through two segments, Commercial Operations and Total R&D. The company offers shingles, meningitis, respiratory syncytial virus, flu, polio, influenza, and pandemic vaccines. It also provides medicines for HIV, oncology, respiratory/immunology, and other specialty medicine products, as well as inhaled medicines for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and antibiotics for infections. It has a collaboration agreement with CureVac to develop mRNA-based influenza vaccines, and with Wave Life Sciences and Elsie Biotechnologies, Inc for oligonucleotide platform development. The company was formerly known as GlaxoSmithKline plc and changed its name to GSK plc in May 2022. GSK plc was founded in 1715 and is headquartered in Brentford, the United Kingdom.